Beyond the Docks : From Inland Ports to Transloading
Special Report addition to RoadOne ’ s total transloading space , expanding its container deconsolidation footprint by more than 10 %. “ This facility , similar to Savannah and Norfolk , will be a brand-new Tier 1 facility and have omnichannel and multi-purpose capabilities to service all types of clients ,” RoadOne said . “ With this addition , we ’ ll be able to provide transload services to almost every major port on the East Coast .”
Multi-year , multi-market expansion
The Sumnerville project is part of a broader , multiyear campaign to expand RoadOne ’ s transloading capabilities based on growing shipper demand for more agile inland distribution options as supply chains become more complex .
That demand is seen in the growing number of inland distribution points across multiple markets , a trend that has intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic began .
“ When I started , most of my customers had two or three DCs [ distribution centers ], now they may have 35 to 40 ,” RoadOne CEO Ken Kellaway said during a transloading panel at the Journal of Commerce ’ s TPM24 conference in March . Transloading allows shippers to shift products to wherever need is located , he said .
Deconsolidating and transloading containers closer to ports helps shippers support more distribution centers and gives them the ability to redirect freight quickly when demand changes , Kellaway and other sources say .
RoadOne also plans to open a second Tier 1 transloading facility in Norfolk in December , a 227,000-square-foot facility with 17 acres of container and trailer parking .
The new facilities will give RoadOne more than 4.5 million square feet of transloading and warehouse space nationwide , in addition to warehousing and distribution footage . The Massachusetts-based company has opened transload facilities in Oakland , Norfolk , Savannah , Jacksonville and Houston in the past three years .
In the Southeast , most transloading moves freight from containers to trucks , rather than domestic intermodal , because of the distances traveled to inland destinations .
In addition to RoadOne , NFI Industries has been expanding transloading capacity in the Southeast , opening a 325-dock-door facility near Savannah last year in cooperation with the Georgia Ports Authority .
Less-than-truckload trucking companies such as Estes Express Lines and Averitt are moving deeper into transloading in the Southeast as well .
“ The Southeast is a growing transload market given the strong infrastructure of highways and rail systems in place today for that region ,” RoadOne told the Journal of Commerce .
“ The Southeast ports are also not as landlocked as West Coast or Northeast ports ,” and have more affordable land for expansion , giving them opportunities to draw freight from ports in those regions , the company said .
email : bill . cassidy @ spglobal . com
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