LOS ANGELES-NAIOP's I.con: the Industrial Conference is just around the corner, The event offers the most up-to-date trends and information presented by some of the most notable names in industrial real estate. I.con takes place on June 5 and 6 at the Omni Los Angeles.

To preview the event, GlobeSt.com has reached out to some of the key speakers to discuss what they will present. Today, we talk with Steve Crosby, president of CSX Real Property, Inc., who is a panelist on the “Inland Ports and the Battle of the Midwest” session at I.con.

It is estimated there are 20 million imported shipping containers that will be consumed in the Midwest. How to efficiently and effectively get the goods to the Midwest is big business. Under discussion at the event are ports, rail and intermodals, and the impact of getting imports to the center of the country.

Moderating the session is Curtis Magleby, senior managing director, regional head – US Capital Markets West, Cushman & Wakefield of California, Inc., panelists include Crosby and Michael Berry, president, Hillwood Properties.

GlobeSt.com: What's the takeway from this session?

Steve Crosby: The solution is for people to remember if you're in the business of building buildings or buying land for industrial development and betting on international trade to drive things, then my recommendation will be to take a portfolio approach and diversify across multiple geographies. We will get into the complexity of how this works and decision trees and different levers that affect pricing. We'll cover what ports might do to compete with each other. There are so many different variables and margins are small in this arena, Little moves in little areas can tilt things one way or another and it's also dependent on the commodity being shipped.

GlobeSt.com: How is the current wave of port deepening affecting things?

S.C.: The jury's out. The ships are getting bigger, but the little ships are not going away. The big ships will be somewhat more efficient. It's why they're building them.

GlobeSt.com: The future of ports?

S.C.: It's a complex series of decisions that are made by various people in the supply chain that are affected by micro and macro economic issues. Everything is changing, and so being flexible is critical. It's easier for the shippers to change the places they will ship to than being the guy who built the building, so you'll be subject to forces beyond your control. There are a lot of people in this space that don't know the ins and outs, and for them, it's a more risky proposition.

Earlier on GlobeSt.com, we previewed the NAIOP I.con "Power Brokers" panel, moderated by Stanley Alterman of USAA Real Estate Co.