Transportation & Distribution
|
  |
|
From its founding as a fur trading post to its role as the Gateway to the West, transportation has always been a key part of what makes St. Louis tick. And it still is. In some respects, the area is currently emerging as an even more important avenue of American commerce. The evidence lies in major new distribution facilities like those for companies like Hershey Foods and Unilever in Madison County, Ill. Shipping costs are among the lowest of any region nationwide — making St. Louis ideal for companies focused on logistics, transportation and distribution, or heavily reliant on those components. Airports
Distribution Companies Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis have supply-chain curriculums, and the University of Missouri-Columbia and Missouri State University both have logistics programs in their business schools. |
|
Located near both the geographic and population centers of the country, St. Louis boasts extensive air, road, rail and river access to virtually anywhere. St. Louis is within 500 miles of one-third of the U.S. population and within 1,500 miles of 90 percent of the North American population and gross domestic product. Serving the St. Louis area are four interstate highways and six major railroads. St. Louis lies at the confluence of three major rivers – the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois – with 14 active ports and more than 100 docking facilities extending 70 miles along the Illinois and Missouri banks. St. Louis is the second largest inland port by tonnage in the United States and handles more than 32 million tons of goods and materials annually, including petroleum, chemicals, grain and other cargo. Scott Air Force Base, located in St. Clair County, is home to the U.S. Transportation Command and one of its subsidiaries, the Air Mobility Command. The Transportation Command is America's global defense transportation system; it is in charge of moving the nation’s military and its equipment wherever it goes in the world. Many of Scott’s more than 12,000 military and civilian personnel therefore have significant expertise in logistics and transportation. Airports - Lambert-St. Louis International Airport has 83 gates and serves 20 airlines, with an average flight time to most major U.S. cities of just two to three hours. The airport offers nearly 500 daily arrivals and departures and nonstop service to about 70 destinations. A $1 billion expansion project creating a new 9,000 foot runway was completed in 2006 and minimizes delays, particularly in inclement weather. The airport has started work on its $16.9 million "Airport Experience" renovation project for the main airport terminal. This update will improve the look and function of the terminal including facility maintenance, in-bound baggage claim system, and improved signage. The airport has also started work on adding more local restaurants and vendors.
- MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, is the region’s second-largest airport. Just 24 miles from downtown St. Louis in St. Clair County, Ill., it has parallel runways of 10,000 and 8,000 feet. Situated on 5,500 acres adjacent to Interstate 64, MidAmerica is a Foreign Trade Zone and offers air cargo facility development sites of 17 to 200+ acres. A 50,000-square-foot cargo terminal with truck access was recently completed.
Distribution Companies
More than 125 companies operate large distribution facilities in Greater St. Louis, occupying a combined space of more than 10 million square feet. Some of the biggest include Hershey Foods, Ozburn-Hessey Logistics/Lanter Distributing, Dial, Procter & Gamble, Whirlpool, and Unilever. Such companies benefit from cheap, flat land; skilled, available labor; and a location at the nexus of five major interstate highways. Based here are: Graybar, a Fortune 500 company, the leading North American distributor of high-quality components, equipment and materials for the electrical and telecommunications industries and a specialist in supply chain management services.
Logistics Management Solutions (LMS), which specializes in operating load control centers for companies such as BASG, Monsanto, and Eaton.
GENCO, in Madison County, Ill., a leading provider of third-party logistics which manages distribution centers of more than 1 million square feet each for Hershey Foods and Unilever.
More than 125 companies operate large distribution facilities in Greater St. Louis, occupying a combined space of more than 10 million square feet. | Major St. Louis Area Distribution Companies | | More Than 1,000,000 Square Feet | | Dial Corporation | | Fresh Warehousing | Ozburn-Hessey Logistics/
Lanter Distribution | | Procter & Gamble | | Spectrum Brands | | Unilever | | Worldwide Technology | | | | More Than 700,000 Square Feet | | Hershey Foods | | Jacobson | | SuperValu | | | | More Than 300,000 Square Feet | | AmPad | | ALDI USA | | Buske Lines | | Grey Eagle Distributors | | Madison Warehouse | | Rawlings Sporting Goods | | SYSCO Corporation | | Trane Company | | Trane Company | | UPS | | U.S. Foodservice | | | | More Than 100,000 Square Feet | | Anheuser-Busch | | Beltservice | | Coca-Cola | | Craftsmen Industries | | CWC Inventories | | Esselte Pendaflex | | Georgia-Pacific | | Graybar | | Kraft/Capri Sun | | |
|
| Largest Employers | | Transportation and Distributions | Employment | Number of Firms | | Wholesale Trade | 57,769 | 5,084 | | Air Transportation | 4,081 | 46 | | Rail Transportation | 590 | 22 | | Water Transportation | 274 | 18 | | Truck Transportation | 12,160 | 1,205 | | Warehousing and Storage | 4,779 | 179 | | Support Activities for Transportation | 5,813 | 408 | | Total | 98,430 | 7,246 | Source: "Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2007" US Bureau of Labor Statistics. |
|
|
|
