Giving it a Whirl: Glades EDC Quarterly Blog
Cargo counts: SWFL summit discusses the opportunities
Written by Super UserLaura Ruane
News-Press.com
October 8, 2015
Southwest Florida might not be a heavyweight in the world of freight, but it cannot afford to not improve its cargo-friendliness.
What’s at stake? Economic sustainability.
That’s one of several takeaways from a regional freight summit held today at Southwest Florida International Airport that drew an audience of nearly 100 people.
A robust freight system not only is crucial to business development, cargo services create jobs.
Take Collier County: “The economy is not heavily driven on freight movement,” said Frank Kalpakis with the Renaissance Planning Group consultancy.
And yet, an estimated 7,000 jobs in manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing in Collier are freight-related, Kalpakis noted.
Over the past several years, the state transportation department’s District One office has developed a freight program. Lee and Collier Metropolitan Planning Organizations also are addressing freight needs in their long-range transportation plans.
And, private sector and economic development entities are investing in new facilities.
Projects in the pipeline include:
- The Florida Fuel Connection facility in Clewiston that will bring rail-car-loads of gasoline and diesel fuel from outside the state. This is expected to break ground by year's end, and start operating by the first quarter of 2017.
- Cheney Brothers’ food distribution center and regional warehouse adjacent to Punta Gorda Airport and Interstate 75, a project that got its temporary certificate of occupancy today; and
- The Americas Gateway Logistics Center near Moore Haven, where the first tenant could begin construction by early next year.
On the latter project, Tracy Whirls with Glades County Economic Development Council, described a complex of commerce, warehousing, distribution and manufacturing that could reach 9 million square feet at build-out.
This center would be useful not only to the trucking industry, but to seaports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and beyond.
“If you think of a hub-and-spoke system, Florida ports provide the spokes. We’re the hub in the middle – and a gateway to the globe,” Whirls said.
A recently completed freight study by the Florida Department of Transportation identifies Immokalee in Collier County as a major freight movement center because of surrounding agribusiness.
Jamie Williams, director of Florida farming for Lipman Produce, said the company brings in 2,500 truckloads loads of materials yearly, for planting and growing alone. Add in outbound shipments, and “we’re talking about a lot of trucks moving around.”
Immokalee activist Fred Thomas Jr. encouraged businesspeople in the audience to check out the free trade zone, airport and other potential assets to freight movement based in his community.
Saying Naples residents fret about noise, Thomas added, “We’re worried about business, making things happen.”
A rail feasibility study Lee County Port Authority is doing with the county Metropolitan Planning Organization could reduce long-haul trucking utilization in getting aviation fuel to Southwest Florida International Airport.
Authority Planning and Environmental Compliance Director Ellen Lindblad mentioned two possible scenarios: connecting with the planned Florida Fuel Connection rail facility in Clewiston or with Seminole Gulf Railway in Fort Myers.
Freight is coveted non-passenger income for airlines; however, the recession, industry consolidation and the departure of some freight-centric passenger carriers hurt air cargo capacity. Air freight last year at Southwest Florida International totaled about 33 million pounds, down from a record 40 million pounds in 2006.
Until Southwest Florida beefs-up its manufacturing sector, Lindblad said, growing air cargo capacity “will be a challenge.”
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Breakout follows
SWFL FREIGHT FACTS
- Overall, freight movement by air, water, rail and truck is projected to increase 40 percent between 2010 and 2035 in the 12 counties, including Lee, Collier and Charlotte, that comprise Florida Department of Transportation District One.
- Rail freight tonnage is forecast to decline by 18 percent between 2010 and 2035 in FDOT District One.
- Southwest Florida International Airport handled an average of 2.7 million pounds monthly in the fiscal year ended September 2014.
- Since 2006, Southwest Florida has seen a reduction in total air cargo capacity, due mainly to the elimination of service from Lufthansa, DHL and Cape Air, and to economic downturns nationally and globally.
- With that reduction in cargo capacity, Southwest Florida International is using most of what remains.
- Inbound and outbound truck tonnage in Lee County is projected to increase 60 percent, to 17.9 million tons, between 2011 and 2040
SOURCES: Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization, Cambridge Systematics Inc., U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, FDOT District One