MISSOURI: The Perfect Center
The St. Louis Connection
less expensive than it would be from, for example, Los Angeles. “Warehouse space, trucking services, and labor tend to be cheaper here,” says Mike Short, manager of global logistics service provider Phoenix International’s central region. For companies that conduct logistics activities in St. Louis, another advantage lies in the city’s access to Scott Air Force Base in western Illinois, headquarters to the U.S. Air Force’s Global Logistics Support Center. “We benefit from the talent pool when the center’s logistics personnel retire,” says Denny Schoemehl, president and chief exec- utive officer for third-party logistics provider Logistics Management Solutions. The St. Louis advantage extends into surrounding communities, including the city of Hazelwood, which sits just north of Lambert International and benefits from its foreign trade zones. “Most of our industrial area on the south side of Hazelwood is now part of the foreign trade zone,” says David Cox, the city’s economic developer. That includes the Hazelwood Logistics Center. As soon as the U.S. Department of Commerce gives its approval, the zone also will include the Aviator Business Park. Hazelwood has 16 companies involved in logistics or distribution and 26 others that operate warehouses. “For instance, Supervalu runs grocery distribution out of Hazelwood,” Cox says. “Prairie Farms Dairy runs their dairy distribution out of Hazelwood. In fact, they just consolidated some of their older operations in the Hazelwood plant.” Transportation and logistics service companies with facilities in Hazelwood include Davidson Surface/Air, Cheyenne Logistics, Ryder, and Air Express International, among many others.
“Perfectly Centered” and “Remarkably Connected” – that’s what the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (STLRCGA) calls the city. According to STLRCGA, one-third of the U.S. population lives within about 500 miles of St. Louis, and 90 percent of the people in North America live within 1,500 miles of the city. “St. Louis is a wonderful logistics hub,” says Milton Cornwell, chief operating officer at Materialogic, a full-service 3PL based in the city. “You can’t do much better if you’re looking for a central location to dis- seminate materials from, and to manage your freight costs and time in transit.” Along with the highways that converge in the city, St. Louis stands at the confluence of three major rivers, the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois. The Tri-City Regional Port District, which includes St. Louis, is the second-largest inland port in the country, serving about 2,500 barges each year. That port also is the northernmost facility on the inland waterway that stays free of ice all year. In addition, six Class I railroads and five short lines serve the city. “St. Louis is an easy place to get to for all of your inbound freight,” says Cornwell, whose clients include Fortune 1000 firms and online merchants, about half of them located in the St. Louis metro. On the outbound side, freight shipped from St. Louis can reach most of the United States within three days. “That’s a big key for managing freight costs,” he says. Warehouse rates in the city are reasonable as well, he adds. For a company importing goods from overseas and for distribution throughout the United States, St. Louis makes an extremely cost- effective distribution node. The central location makes distribution
GOOD NEIGHBORS: Companies in the communities surrounding St. Louis, such as Hazelwood ( top left ) and Lambert ( bottom left ), benefit from their proximity to the city’s resources.
76 Inbound Logistics • September 2009
FACING LOGISTICS CHALLENGES? USE IL’S 3PL EXPERTS AND
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