One-third of the major corporate end-user facility projects Site Selection magazine’s proprietary Conway Projects Database has tracked in Oregon since early 2019 have a logistics purpose. Among the investors are such companies as Steelhead Surgical (an Arthrex distributor investing in Portland); Meyer Distributing (investing in Umatilla County); Stratacache in Eugene; and Hawthorne Hydroponics in Gresham. But five of those projects have come from a single e-commerce giant whose HQ sits one state to the north.

Amazon projects totaling more than 4.8 million sq. ft. over that time period are landing in Tualatin, Portland, Salem, Woodburn and Canby, with the largest — 3.8 million sq. ft. and 1,500 jobs — coming to Woodburn in Marion County. Amazon’s fulfillment journey in the state began five years ago with a 1,500-job, 855,000-sq.-ft. facility in Troutdale, following the opening of a Prime Now hub in Portland and a sortation center in Hillsboro.

As reported by the Bend Bulletin and other sources, the Woodburn facility, slated to open in spring 2023, will be a five-story complex on a 90-acre parcel, where starting pay will be $17 per hour. Improvements to a major I-5 interchange literally paved the way for the project, which Amazon itself is enabling with a new traffic roundabout. Woodburn’s 2016 urban growth boundary expansion also helped, “targeting this land for large-lot, high-employment industrial users,” the Bulletin reported in October. “The city annexed the land a year later.”

According to Woodburn City Council minutes documenting building permit activity, the investment in “Project Basie” is just north of $451 million. The project was taking so much of the building inspector’s time that the city in December proposed contracting out some inspection and plan review work. Also in the works are two large industrial developments totaling more than 1.5 million sq. ft. in the city’s Southwest Industrial Reserve (SWIR) area.

“The city is currently experiencing development activity (residential, commercial, and industrial) at a historical high rate,” city council minutes stated. “For perspective, in the last 18 months the Building Department has issued permits for more than twice as many housing units (1,096 units) than were issued during the previous 12 years combined (457 units). Based on recent land use approvals and subdivisions that have been recorded, staff believes residential construction will continue at high levels into the short-term future.”

The city in December applied for a grant from Business Oregon’s Special Public Works Fund (SPWF), which provides low-cost financing to eligible municipalities for planning, design, and construction of utilities and facilities essential to industrial growth, commercial enterprise, and job creation. Among other communities receiving SPWF funds in the past few fiscal years were:

• Prineville: $3 million for water system improvements
• Port of Columbia County (formerly Port of Saint Helens): Nearly $2.5 million for the SIA Devinaire Hangar Building Project (FY2021); sewer improvements in FY2020; and a total of $1 million in FY2019 for the Composites MIP ­– E Production Building Project.
• Seaside: $5 million in FY2019 to support a School Campus Water Tank Design & Construction project.
• Port of Cascade Locks: A new flex industrial building called The Renewal Workshop ($6.6 million in FY2021) and an industrial building for pFriem Brewing Co. ($4.38 million in FY2020).

In Cascade Locks, pFriem is working with the Port of Cascade Locks to construct a new secondary production and warehousing facility to make room for significant capacity expansion at the Hood River headquarters. The two facilities will work in tandem. 

Portland

Photo courtesy of Travel Oregon

In Hood River, pFriem will continue to brew all of its beer, and ferment and package all of its non-barrel aged beers. In Cascade Locks, the brewery will age and package all of its barrel aged beers. Cascade Locks will also be the company’s main logistics hub, and will warehouse all of its raw materials and finished beer.

“We are excited to announce that we have partnered with the Ports of Cascade Locks and Hood River to expand pFriem’s production footprint in the Gorge,” said Josh Pfriem, pFriem brewmaster/co-founder, in 2019. “The Columbia River Gorge has always been our home, and we have worked hard with the folks at these ports and cities to develop a long-term plan for pFriem to thrive in this beautiful area. The Cascade Locks project will allow us to significantly expand our barrel aging program while consolidating our warehousing and cold storage operations in a beautiful new facility. It will also free up space in our current Hood River brewery for a new state-of-the-art brewhouse, increased fermentation capacity, and sophisticated canning line.” 

Intermodal is the key word when talking about logistics in Texas.

From trucks to planes to ports and international borders, products move in and out of Texas — within the country and around the world — at an increasingly efficient and fast pace.

It’s no wonder that those in the logistics and delivery business boast about the great growth opportunities in the state, as does Chris Kurzadkowski, president of the Texas Courier and Logistics Association (TCLA). To make his point, Kurzadkowski notes that he started his own company, Lonestar Delivery & Process, in Houston in 2006, “with nothing.” Today it’s a growing $6-million company.

He talks about the need for the industry to constantly adjust. “We need to think out of the box. There are all kinds of methods of moving things,” says Kurzadkowski. He also mentions the option of combining truck and rail transportation to move products across Texas.

“Sometimes it’s easier and cheaper to rent a trailer and put it on a flat-bed railcar and move it to its destination, than driving these high-volume goods by truck the entire way,” he says, noting that a flat-bed railcar moves two 53-foot trailers. “This is good for non-perishable products, although in the future we’ll be able to move perishable products this way.”

The future is as wide open in the Texas logistics business as the skies are across the state. “There’s even talk about a bullet train from Dallas to Texas in the next 10 years,” he says. Although it would be a passenger train, hand-carried goods such as medical specimens or small electronic parts could also be transported on a bullet train. He compares it to New York’s couriers moving products by bicycles and subways.

A 30-year veteran in the business, Kurzadkowski recalls that his very first delivery was for flowers. Although the small corner florists have been replaced by florist departments in grocery stores, someone still needs to deliver those flowers to the store from the flower market each day.

Moreover, there’s an increasing demand for flowers ordered on the Internet to be delivered on a certain day. “We’ve come full circle,” he says, adding that e-tail business from Amazon, Best Buy, Pier 1 Imports and even major retail stores like Neiman Marcus is also expanding.

Micro to Massive

Eric Donaldson, president of Hot Shot Delivery Inc. in Houston says the logistics industry isn’t limited to any one market. Texas transports textiles, fruits, vegetables, chemicals, flowers and medical and electronic products. Certain dialysis goods are packaged in Mexico and enter the country through Texas. “There are a lot of facets in this industry. People think of large tractor-trailers, but we do small deliveries like heart valves. Doctors don’t know what size they need until the patient is on the operating table.

“Texas is a powerful state and well-positioned for incredible growth,” says Donaldson. In Houston, there are long-range hopes of deepening the port “to handle super tankers that come through the Panama Canal. The state is making investments in infrastructure and we’re poised to handle an influx of international trade.” The Port of Houston is already one of the world’s largest in terms of cargo volume.

Donaldson also points to the Dallas market, which has been a massive intermodal terminal for years. It’s common knowledge that the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region is home to the headquarters of two major international airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, while a third, United Airlines, operates a major hub in Houston.

What isn’t as well known is that by air, freight leaving Texas can reach any North American market in less than four hours.

Moreover, the Fort Worth Alliance Airport is a public-use airport located at the Alliance Texas logistics hub 14 miles north of downtown Fort Worth. Owned by the city, it is the world’s first purely industrial airport. Opened in 1996, it covers nearly 1,200 acres and accommodates air cargo, corporate aviation and military needs, and has direct access to both rail lines and highways.

Donaldson adds, “The state has done a good job in maintaining infrastructure, keeping taxes low and being business friendly.”