E-Commerce Has Inland Ports Booming

Since Inland Port Greer opened in 2013, Greenville, SC has seen triple-digit gains in container traffic volume. (Photo: South Carolina Ports Authority)

LOS ANGELES—A surge in construction hasn’t slowed down absorption in the nation’s 12 primary inland-port markets, says CBRE Group in a new report. Nine of the 12 have seen availability rates decline from their post-recession peaks faster than the national rate for warehouses and distribution centers. The nation’s largest inland port, Chicago, has seen a 26% increase in volume of twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, since 2000. Along with its being the largest such market, Chicago also has the lowest availability rate at 6.6%. Greenville, SC, where an inland port opened in 2013, has seen triple-digit growth in cargo volume since then. E-commerce has been the major growth engine for inland ports, as goods shipped in from overseas are routed from seaports to regional distribution hubs. “Inland ports account for more than half of the fastest growing industrial markets in the US because they are key way stations in the national e-commerce distribution network,” says David Egan, head of industrial & logistics research in the Americas for CBRE. “As online commerce continues to expand, more shippers, retailers and logistics firms will seek top-quality, big-box warehouses in the leading inland-port markets to serve as critical links in their supply chains.” Along with Chicago and Greenville, CBRE identifies the nation’s major inland ports as the Inland Empire; Phoenix; Dallas/Fort Worth; Kansas City; Houston; St. Louis; Memphis; Columbus, OH; Atlanta, and East and Central Pennsylvania. Collectively, these 12 markets expanded their base of industrial properties by 2.7% percent in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the national average growth rate of 1.6%. Fastest growing among the 12 during Q1 were the Inland Empire, which grew its property base by 4.3%; Greenville with 4.2%; and Atlanta and DFW, both at 3.6%. “Inland-port markets have recovered faster than their non-port counterparts since the Great Recession,” says Scott Marshall, CBRE’s executive managing director of industrial & logistics in the Americas. “These markets will hold their edge because they have sustainable advantages in their infrastructure, access to population centers and connections to major seaports to benefit them for the foreseeable future.”