Glades County location proposed for

south Florida inland port

 

   The Glades County Economic Development Council, Inc. is working on a grass roots effort with Glades and Moore Haven public officials, the Florida Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative (FHREDI), state legislators, EDC members, regional planners, state agencies, and other folks in the region to site an inland port in the center of the FHREDI region.

 

  Glades County has an inland port site located just north west of the City of Moore Haven that is ideally located on the South Central Florida Express rail, US 27, and US 78.

 

  An inland port is an intermodal logistics center that provides for the opportunity to move large transport containers from rail to road and road to rail.  These containers will arrive at the inland port from the north, the west, the east, and the south either by truck or rail.  The origin of the containers will be from out of the state, within the state, from airports, or from the ports along the coast.   In addition, the inland port provides for the opportunity to generate light manufacturing and distribution centers near it and within the region around it.  Inland ports must be centrally located to key consumer markets and have efficient access to freight facilities (both rail and road).

 

  According to EDC director Tracy Whirls, an inland port, in the right location:

· Will be a much needed south Florida infrastructure improvement for facilitating the movement of containers within the entire             

 region including both the southwest and southeast Florida consumer markets

· Will help connect five plus seaports and three international airports

· Will utilize existing transportation infrastructure as efficiently as possible with the least amount of improvements to rail and roads required in early phases to   reduce costs

· Will improve efficient utilization of rail and reduce semi-truck vehicle miles traveled throughout south Florida (especially the coastal congestion on I-95, the Turnpike, and I-75)

· Will free up east coast rail for urban passengers

· Will diversify the Florida, South Florida, Southwest Florida and Heartland regional economies

· Will provide a basis for a sustainable and well-diversified south Florida regional economy going forward

 

  “In addition to the inland port functioning as a much needed piece of infrastructure for south Florida, it will also function, as conceived by the Port of Palm Beach, to facilitate and increase international trade in Florida as an international trade processing center,” Ms. Whirls said. “It will help to expand the South Florida transportation and logistics industry, by making it cheaper, faster, more efficient and secure for companies to move goods into, out of and through various Florida markets and ports.”

 

   Currently there are many sites being considered for the inland port, including several in Palm Beach County, which have drawn opposition from environmental groups due to their proximity to or being within the proposed Everglades restoration project flow way, one at Hendry County’s Airglades Airport and one at the Glades Moore Haven site.

 

   The Moore Haven inland port site is in the center of the existing workforce of 100,000 in the FHREDI Heartland region.

The Moore Haven site is within half an hour’s drive time to all of the unincorporated communities in Glades County, as well as Clewiston and LaBelle in Hendry County, and within 45 minutes drive time of Lake Placid, Okeechobee and Belle Glade.

 

  “This is critical,” the EDC director said, “because if you move the location from the center of the region, it becomes too far to commute for many of the FHREDI region towns. A second Glades County proposed inland port site, at Palmdale, was discounted for this reason, because it is too far from a commuting workforce in South Bay, Belle Glade and Pahokee. A company looking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in an inland port, needs access to that 100,000 workforce within 45 minutes.”

 

   An inland port will offer not only numerous entry level jobs, but also managerial and other opportunities providing high-skilled/high-waged jobs.  Those jobs, Ms. Whirls noted, include direct jobs, not just in initial construction, but trucking, maintenance, warehousing, dispatch, management, parts, rail, heavy equipment operators and security. Indirect jobs include business opportunities to support shippers, distributors, freight forwarders, manufacturers, restaurants, fueling, retail and vocational training. “Transportation logistics jobs are full time, year round jobs.” Ms. Whirls said. “And that is what the FHREDI region needs”.

 

   The Moore Haven site has more direct frontage on the SCFX rail and direct or close access to state highways than any other site.

The Moore Haven site has been through much of the environmental due diligence necessary for siting a project of this scope in a timely manner. Even more importantly, the land owners have vowed to make the Moore Haven site the most competitively priced site for the inland port project. “For an inland port project to work,” the economic development director said, “the economics as a business must work: Lower infrastructure cost (rail and road) will allow phasing and attract investors and the right company to fund, design, develop, market, and operate the South Florida Inland Port over time.”

 

   According to Ms. Whirls, the location of the inland port must be based on its economic and environmental feasibility.

“We are concerned that if a decision is made to site the project without thorough vetting based on infrastructure required and cost, providing maximum economic stimulus and jobs for as much of the FHREDI region as possible, serving a consumer market both on the west and east coast, and environmental compatibility, that a private company will not come to Florida to fund, construct, and operate it.   The inland port concept is being developed throughout the US and there are a limited amount of companies that can fund, construct, and operate one.  Those companies are being courted by many, many states.”

 

“This may be the largest economic development project that has ever been proposed for the State and we need to make sure we do not lose the right company to another state. The wrong site could be chosen by the government and Florida would have missed the opportunity of a life time,” Ms Whirls added with emphasis.

 

“We believe the right location for the inland port will enjoy broad based support from Florida business leaders, including airport and port authorities, governmental officials, residents and environmental groups,” the EDC director said. “And we believe the Moore Haven site is the right location for the inland port.” For more information on the inland port project, contact the Glades County Economic Development Council at (863) 946-0300.