Global Sustainability Perspective magazine - Jones Lang LaSalle

Global Sustainability Perspective
Changing U.S. Logistics Patterns
Bode Well For Sustainability
Inland Port Connections
USA-Canada-Mexico
Due to increasing demand for speed to market at minimum cost –
particularly in retail and most especially for the booming e-commerce
segment – shipping procedures are changing at major U.S. seaports and
inland logistics hubs. And though the evolving supply chain efficiencies
are driven more by savings and speed than by sustainability, the results
are greening U.S. commercial transportation as well. Trends that provide
environmental as well as economic benefits include:
• More trains, fewer trucks by comparison: The economics of
American long- and short-haul rail shipping are steadily improving.
Railroads have made major financial commitments to infrastructure
and terminal overhauls, as well as service, in recent years.
Though trucking still accounts for more than 70 percent of U.S.
freight shipments according to the American Trucking Association,
the fastest growing mode of transportation has been intermodal.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, over 440
billion rail freight revenue ton miles were recorded for Q1 2012,
22 percent above that shipped during the same period three years
June 2012
ago. This is good news since rail is a far more sustainable mode of
transportation – producing up to 10 times fewer carbon emissions
per ton-kilometer than trucking, according to a recent University
of California-Berkeley research report on Transport and Carbon
Emissions in the United States.
Rail and intermodal transportation will likely continue to increase
in popularity as rail’s economies of scale continue to improve with
rising fuel costs. Union Pacific, for example, expanded its intermodal
volume about 20 percent between 2009 and 2010. Rail’s biggest
inroads are expected in shipments of less than 500 miles, where
trucking has traditionally been considered more competitive.
• The rise of “inland ports”: Economic and efficiency gains in
U.S. railroads are well timed as a means of helping to relieve
increasing congestion at U.S. seaports. Increasingly, inbound
cargo from overseas will be transferred directly from an ocean
vessel to railcars and then transported to an inland location, away
from the more congested port itself, for further processing and
distribution. These inland locations, or intermodal centers, serve
as “inland ports,” with some handling as much cargo volumes
as their coastal counterparts.
Inland ports act as an integrated component to U.S. port systems,
creating a logistics “barbell.” With port systems growing in size
and capacity, the inland port provides the counterbalance, with
the two ends connected by a dedicated rail line, originating ondock
at the container terminals with direct access to the inland
port destination. In such fashion, the inland hub provides the
means for ocean cargo to pass through the waterfront terminals
more quickly and more cost effectively, literally “clearing the
decks” for the arrival of the next vessel.
Conclusion: Less shipping pain is sustainability’s gain: What does all this
mean for sustainability? Besides an increase in more environmentallyfriendly
rail transportation, many inland ports are less established than
their coastal counterparts that have been around for decades, even
centuries. Inland ports can be designed from a comparatively clean slate,
incorporating green technologies and practices ranging from renewable
power and water conservation to site plans that preserve natural habitat.
Even when sustainability isn’t in the forefront of American logistical
planning – which is often the case – one thing is clear: The changes
afoot to streamline distribution patterns within the world’s largest
consumer economy should make the U.S. a greener country, as well.
For further information please contact:
Aaron L. Ahlburn
Vice President, Americas Director of
Research, Industrial & Retail,
aaron.ahlburn@am.jll.com
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Jones Lang LaSalle
About 40 miles from Chicago, bordered by a BNSF
main railroad on one side and Interstate 55, a major
highway, on the other, is possibly America’s most
sustainable inland port. The RidgePort Logistics Center
contains 14 million square feet of buildings ranging from
200,000 square feet to 2 million square feet, but equally
impressive are environmental benefits such as:
• Almost one-third of the land area set aside for natural habitat
• Wastewater filtration using four different green technologies
• A required tenant composting program, with the end result
used in site planting and landscaping projects
• Plans to construct a limestone mine 200 feet under the
property for aggregate stone used for roads and buildings; this
is expected to eliminate truck trips using 540,000 gallons of
fuel and prevent 10,476,000 pounds of CO2 emissions
• Best management practices to minimize storm water impact
• Solar and wind energy generation
• A sustainable tree farm