Potential Growth Industry- Logistics and Trade
The study concludes that public freight investments would create jobs and spur economic development in the forms of new distribution centers, warehousing, and light manufacturing operations. An additional 27,000 jobs could be created over the next ten years in the transportation and logistics sector and the wholesale, non-durable good industry if the region emerges as a transportation hub for distributing international goods. Work is already underway.
The CSX Corporation is spending $8.5 million to create an intermodal inland port at the Seneca Yard in south Buffalo, Lackawanna and Hamburg. CSX plans to run trains between Buffalo and Elizabeth, N.J., providing direct service to and from Elizabethport.
The congested Port of New York and New Jersey is establishing inland hubs to move non-New York metropolitan area freight off the docks quickly via train. The Port Authority estimates that about 13 percent of its current marine cargo volume is transported off the port by rail. The stated goal is to increase rail handling to as much as 30 percent of the future total cargo volume while utilizing trucks to distribute freight within the New York metropolitan area.
Trains will bring containers to Buffalo where they will be inspected by Customs and transferred to trucks for delivery throughout the country. The increased freight traffic has the potential to spur additional warehousing and logistics services that will create new jobs in the region.
Planners are also looking at ways to better capitalize on Canadian trade. Empire State Development Upstate Chairman Daniel C. Gundersen recently announced that the state agency will reimburse up to 50 percent of the funding for a study to determine the volume levels and feasibility of a rail intermodal freight terminal in Western New York geared towards Canadian trade. The study will be administered by the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council which received the grant not to exceed $50,000.
“This is an important step that will help identify the feasibility of utilizing rails to support export and import business with Canada and determining how we can create a significant, positive economic impact in the region,” Chairman Gundersen said. “It is crucial that New York State be at the forefront of international business development and this study will help us realize how best to achieve those goals.”
“A new freight hub and enhanced rail activity in the Buffalo area would streamline commerce for businesses looking to grow and create new jobs,” said Congressman Brian Higgins, a member of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Governor Spitzer’s leadership on this project demonstrates his understanding of the important economic partnership between Canada and Western New York and how expanding this relationship is vital to the economic future of Buffalo and Upstate New York.”
Rail played a significant role in Buffalo’s industrial past. Intermodal presents an opportunity to re-emerge as an east-west and north-south transportation hub for distributing international goods.
Photos by Jerry Godwin
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Comment Options
xosder
We've been watching CSX working quietly at S Buffalo and Lackawanna yards over the past summer preparing for this. I am also told that the containers will be offloaded directly onto rail cars from the ships and as such all Customs operations would occur here, and that an additional spin off will be final assembly of components here in WNY.
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chris69
Ive been saying this for 15 years.
This should have been blatantly obvious and planned with the announcement of NAFTA Trade Agreement under Bill Clinton.
All of Buffalos various industries from Steel to Airplanes were located in Buffalo because of rail and because of low taxes. Why did Buffalo have low taxes? Because Buffalo was such a railroad hub that the railroads paid provided most of the revenue for the government.
Roughly $100 billion dollars in goods passes thru Buffalo (north-south) between US and Canada while we remain little more than a conduit adding no value
Roughly $100 billion dollars in goods passes thru Buffalo (east-west) between NYC and Chicago while we remain little more than a conduit adding no value
Well we NEVER planned for the Welland Canal! We NEVER planned for the replacement of rail by thruways and airplanes! Now we are what 20 years late to planning for NAFTA as a transportation hub but atleast after 20 years the leaders finally woke up...well actually Buffalo leaders would still have their head up their collective butts if the port of NY/NJ wasnt clogged and looking for an alternative.
So the question now becomes how can Buffalo incentivize the construction of large scale warehouses, distribution facilities and industrial parks in metro-brownfields and empty lots!
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chris_h_23
I am in Logistics and I think that the the area has great potential as well but you have to have a well executed plan.
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RisingDamp666
Buffalo as a hub between the Ports of New york and New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and the Canadian markets is simply compelling. This arrangement bypasses the St Lawrence altogether saving time, and hopefully, money. If enough goods can be staged and cross-docked in Buffalo, there could be some tremendous energy here. The trade-off is traffic, and truck emissions. Siting new warehouse and intermodal facilities in those empty brownfields and along rail, which is obvious, shouldn't be a huge burden there. The State, the Federal government, and the region all need to get behind this. If the Canadian Dollar remains strong, I think new industies could spring up alongside. Buffalo was made for this stuff!
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Emjay
Very compelling article. One of the best I've seen and read on BRO. What I don't understand is why an initiative like this isn't on the front page of the Buffalo News every week with constant updates. Buffalo as a transportation hub makes a much more compelling case to boost our region than any Bass Pro, Casino, or whatever silver bullet de jour you can think of. I hope that Buffalo Rising stays on this topic. I also hope that a local politician picks up on it as a centerpiece of their service or candidacy. Seems like a natural for Higgins. While it may not have a glamorous photo op on the waterfront, this seems like an initiative with realistic, rather than simply optimistic, possibilities. PLEASE STAY ON TOP OF THIS BRO. It would be nice to see other media outlets follow up prominently as well.
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RisingDamp666
Exactly, Emjay! This is the Big Story!
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al-alo
I wish the port of buffalo would update their website and logo. if you dont have a business like website, who will take you seriously? even the logo! look, its a modern cargo ship, a modern truck and a steam locomotive? nothing says modern forward looking rail facilities like a steam engine! (http://www.portofbuffalo.com)
the interesting thing to watch would be whether the a true multi mode transloading facility would ever be built. would a container ship ever dock in the port of Buffalo to avoid the expensive and crowded ports of Baltimore and NY?NJ. It may be worth taking a look at. I honestly dont know if even a small container ship could easily navigate the Seaway or the harbors.
I do believe that some overseas bulk cargo is currently coming into the PoB (south american coal, methinks).
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RisingDamp666
Them big-ass containerized cargo ships require a draft of over 40ft. Only deep water ports need apply. Imagine dredging the St Lawrence Seaway system to those specs. Buffalo's harbor hails from the era of ore boats and grain vessels. All long ago memories. As the lakes get quieter, there are other pleasures to be had out of their ports.
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al-alo
its very likely that a large container ship couldnt handle the seaway - maybe something a bit smaller than panamax. some specs for the seaway:
Opened to deep draft navigation in 1959.
Lock systems: Montreal to Lake Ontario - 2 U.S., 5 Canadian Welland Canal - 8 Canadian St. Mary's River - 4 U.S. parallel locks -- one transit (Army Corps of Engineers) Vessel maximum: 225.5 m (740 ft.) length; 23.7 m (78 ft.) beam; 8.08 m (26 ft., 6 in.) draft; 35.5 m (116.5 ft.) height above water.
Channels maintained at 8.2 m (27 ft.) minimum over the chart datum.
Distance from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth, Minnesota on Lake Superior = 2,038 nautical miles (2,342 statute miles or 3,700 kilometres), 8.5 sailing days. Includes some 245,750 square kilometres (95,000 square miles) of navigable waters.
Sailing time (normal conditions) between certain ports on the Great Lakes and the intersection of the Seaway ship channel and Montreal Harbor, using an average sailing time of 12 mph (10.4 knots)
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RisingDamp666
Pretty awesome, al-alo, just "8.5" sailing days from the Atlantic to Duluth? Where's Carnival Cruise Lines? Why haven't they heard about this?
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carl
this has the potential to be huge....
for example, I recently moved to Los Angeles (for a short while)...a city people usually associate with the movie industry. But it turns out that the largest economic driver in the city is actually international trade, supported by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. The biggest employers in the area are the port of long beach and UCLA.... (all the Chinese crap we all buy goes through those ports)
EDUCATION AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE!
buffalo is already one of the busiest international rail corridors in the united states...and UB is growing very quickly...
HUH, i wonder if buffalo could learn from this one. But of course, we all know that learning lessons from other cities is not something buffalo does well.
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al-alo
sadly, carnival has yet to pick up on this route.
however, im sure a leaky liberian flagged freighter would happily provide for an "all expenses paid" trip. activities include: scrubbing pots in the galley, plugging broken steam lines with old rags, and securing hatches in high great lakes seas. Weeeeee!
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viking
Do you think the possibility that this article and the controversy about the Ambassador Group has any connection, lets see--CSX-- only bridge in the region that facilitates rail --former rail yard right on the border next to bridge site, open land to build storage, possible truck corridor to the 290 that bypasses the 190. My crystal Ball has been predicting this story for twenty years, if fact, I've been praying for it. Maybe now all the money we put into staying in Black Rock will make sense.
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al-alo
viking, i do believe there is an additional x-ing at the falls on the B-lo to TO route.
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RisingDamp666
Heh heh, al-alo, I actually signed up for a one way "Indian Ocean Exotic Adventure" cruise which culminated with our captain gunning the engines of our retrofitted greek merchant scowl and beaching it north of Mumbai to be carved up by a legion of grease covered scavengers. Money well spent! A Great Lakes version of this wonderful experience would be a huge boon to such sultry and exotic ports o' call as Toledo, Superior, WI and Lorain OH. (airfare not included )
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SteveP
Maybe its the article, but I've noticed that the trainyards seem to be much more full when you cross over them on the 90 headed. I used to landscape and one summer not too long ago we did this railcar repair service in West Seneca/City Line area. I remember them being incredibly busy because not only is Buffalo a large hub for intermodal transportation, it is an area well suited to fix such things because of the availability of tracks. The above posters are right that something like RRs, which we obviously have an abudance of, are more important than ' Silver Bullets.'
Maybe to prevent the bumbling that will eventually come to the Buffalo Ports, we should look into selling them to Dubai Ports, one of the most efficient in the world.
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RisingDamp666
Dubai Ports is very efficient indeed...when their underseas communications cables aren't severed!
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chris69
first let me clarify two posts One the International RailRoad Bridge is not the only rail crossing into canada. The Whirlpool bridge also has rail and there is a Niagara Falls Rail Yard that is considering being reactivated.
Second, the great lakes does have cruise ships offering cruises. However Buffalo is the only major city on the Great Lakes not to have joined the "GREAT LAKES CRUISING COALITION" Even Rochester and Gary Indiana have joined which should tell you something about the backward stupidity of Buffalo & Erie County!
Third, 90% of the High Speed Rail Task Force is spent between NYC and Albany while Buffalo to Albany must share all its rail lines with freight causing passenger rail to upstate to travel slower than the thruway at roughly 55mph.
Fourth, UBs Center for Global Enterprise Management could easily be expanded into a research center for transportation, logistics, supply chain management, international trade and import/export customs law.
Fifth, the major locks like the Welland Canal and St Marys etc are the reason why we have such low lake levels. The dredging and blasting is creating excessive rates of water flow between the great lakes as well as invasive species. The canals must be closed to ocean going vessels which would reactivate Buffalo.
THE STUPIDITY OF BUFFALOS LEADERSHIP IS MIND BOGGLING THAT THEY WAIT 20 YEARS AFTER NAFTA TO DISCOVER LOGISTICS AND THEN WAIT UNTIL THE WORLD IS ENTERING A DEBT, REAL ESTATE AND COMMODITIES RECESSION TO TRY TO EXPAND!
WE MISSED THE BOOM BECAUSE OF OUR STUPIDITY...MUST BUFFALO ALWAY BE THE POSTER CHILD FOR PUNCH & JUDY INCOMPETENCE AND DYSFUNCATIONALITY!
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sbrof
10% of Buffalo's Land area are Railroad Parcels
we're strategic when you think about how many millions of people live around us. Our area is a natural distribution center. Bring it by rail car or air (Niagara Falls) & go from there. Introduce some efficient high speed rail and you are talking about some significant wealth.
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Shawnj46
Viking, I agree with you but the International train bridge is not operated by CSX but CN. CN's tracks end around the switch and then CSX's go on from there.
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blackrocklifer
Black Rock would welcome increased rail traffic as it produces much less air pollution than trucks. Trains have always been here and can coexist with homes, buisness, and recreation.
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wizardofza
Finally, our region's biggest asset will lead to real economic recovery.
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magnum
Back in 1990, I was watching CNBC and they were reporting on a big study done by some NYC research firm detailing the 5 cities that would benefit the most from NAFTA, I believe Buffalo was number 3 on the list. All of the 5 cities were border cities and were supposed to benefit from increase transportation and warehousing; kind of funny looking back - NOT!
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gregduh
In my PD 279 (Buffalo Niagara by Design) class at UB, Dr. Shibley told us about how it's like 20 cents cheaper per pound or ton, something, I can't remember, for European shippers to send their freight on ships to Halifax and then for it to be sent on trains to Buffalo and then the rest of the country, because of the shape of the globe. It's a shorter distance to Halifax than Boston or New York for most of the European ports on the Atlantic, and then the goods can be sent by train through canada into New York state. Sounded good to me.
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Tesla
Nafta isn't all good.
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RisingDamp666
And did Dr. Shibley mention the capacity at Halifax? That port could easily be choked by even a slight uptick in traffic. But part of Buffalo's evil plot is to convince those rubes up north that Halifax won't be the least affected if Buffalo ramps up its own trans-shipping trade. We want Canada to let Buffalo grow and not interfere for any concerns about Halifax. The real action is New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Let them believe Halifax is their mainstay...keeps us all happy.
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viking
Water and location are two most important assets Buffalo has going for it, building new housing, loft apartments, or hoping for a big name retailer isn't anywhere near as important. A study is nice, common sense is better, especially coupled with positive activity. Activity that brings an influx of funds to the area is what is needed, not more population. I personally would like money left here by individuals looking to access our natural advantages, not to try and artificially recreate someplace else for them or us. Temporary and transit individuals do just that, and they are travelers for business or pleasure, students, patients and tourists. These are the areas our attention should occupy, to reverse our regional balance of trade. Try growing something without water, or transferring something a distance not using the natural path way.
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NewBuffalo
This was suppose to happen due to NAFTA and free trade over 10 yrs ago. what is the delay? maybe NAFTA is after all a one sided deal? I don't see much happening in Buffalo resulting from this. We can't even build a new bridge.
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Dan
Damn! Comments didn't show up, and I just sat here while the page churned away. PLEASE fix this, and while you're at it, the ignoring-a-single-line-break issue too.
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Dan
While this looks promising, I can't help but think that depending on this as THE economic catalyst to being back Buffalo will just perpetuate the region's blue-collar character. What kind of white-collar jobs for young educated professionals will this offer? Will this stop the drain of freshly minted college/university graduates to Charlotte, or will it just keep the young Lancaster Stans and Paula Polinskis in the area while the "creative class" find opportunity elsewhere? Does Buffalo really want to be an "El Paso of the North", a growing city centered on logistics, but still very blue-collar, very working-class, very hard on the eyes, very low on most of the various "best city for ..." lists?
The region should embrace the potential of logistics, but not depend on it as a cure-all. The region's economy needs to be diverse, and rooted in more than just blue collar "Old Buffalo" pursuits.
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Hoss
"it's like 20 cents cheaper per pound or ton, something, I can't remember" Kind of a big difference Gregduh.
It's funny when they try to sex up bland services, by using a word such as logistics as opposed to trucking.
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IvantheTerrible
Seems like a no brainer to me. If the USofA insists on being oil dependent then train service needs to be redeveloped including passenger. Rebuild the passenger only rail track between Buffalo and Albany!
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JimmyMac
We continue to spend money on more and more studies. Anyone who took economics 101 should have been able to figure out that Buffalo was a great place for intermodal transportation and rail traffic in general. I have been saying this for years. Unfortunately, unless an idea comes from one of our incompetent elected officails it is ignored.
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JohnMartin
Seems like hoping for the transportation industry to lead Buffalo's economic revival is at odds with most of what this site and the effete Elmwood set think is best for Buffalo. After all, this will mean more roads, trucks, industrial buildout along the water, and ugh, blue collar people whom Elena can condescend to call "salt of the earth" when she deigns to talk to them.
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viking
The blue collar jobs of the area that were lost is the reason for the regional decline, and Lancaster is a current growth area. Blue collar jobs produce tangible assets, white collar jobs other than education, research and medicine produce what. A recent study stated that the decline of our economy and social fabric is due to the fact that people no longer have a direct connection to producing tangible results. Things of real value are produced else where, providing material and psychological benefits. Is poor mental health and transfer of our regional wealth to producing areas really progress.
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Dan
viking> Blue collar jobs produce tangible assets, white collar jobs other than education, research and medicine produce what.
During Buffalo's heydey, though, the tangible assets didn't stay in the area. The real "value added" in the region went off to New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. Yes, there were blue-collar jobs generated, but the fruits of their hard labor mostly benefited those elsewhere. The region even adds value to its people, through its excellent public schools and universities, and ships them off so their skills and creativity benefit Raleigh and Phoenix, not their hometown. In the end, tax dollars that give children the finest education in the country only benefit the regions where the smartest end up.
Buffalo needs to stop being America's on-shore banana republic, where the value added to goods and services produced in the region ends up elsewhere, and the politics are corrupt.
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BuffaloNY
The future of transportation and shipping in this country lies in the railroads. Maybe it's time those numbnuts in Washington wake up and realize the United States must move away from oil dependent means of transport and shipping. This could be a huge boost for the area, at one tmie, Buffalo was the 2nd largest railroad hub after Chicago, maybe one day we could return to that. Throw in Highspeed freight/ highspeed passanger rail, and the future could be promising for this area.
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tormaplf67
Politically, I wonder how long it might take high speed rail to become a reality our region. However Canada is exploring the development of a high speed rail corridor from Windsor to Quebec City. I wonder if there is spur that would go to Niagara Falls and Erie, Ontario? Should we think regionally, as Dr. Shibley and others suggest, and propose being part of this project.
Also thanks West Coast Perspective for using my photos, once again showing the power of flickr.
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al-alo
although a differnt issue than freight rail, there is new hope for high speed rail in nys.
first off, nys and amtrak have settled their ongoing litigation over the doomed turbotrains (rail transport money very poorly spent). Additionally, the empire state high speed rail task force/ohio hub plan/ Via rail Canada's investments could possibly bring high speed rail to buffalo - eventually.
a interesting couple of sidenotes: Nancy Naples has just been nominated to amtrak's board - maybe some pressure on her could bring us home some bacon; and Sen Schumer has asked amtrak to study re-inaugurating passenger rail service between New York to Syracuse via Binghampton and Scranton - a simple extention to Buffalo makes makes even more sense.
Id love for Sen Chuck to ask for an Amtrak study of the Bflo-NF route for a commuter line. hmmmmm.
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LivingForge
If Amtrak could get a train to Ithaca they'd make a killing running Cornell and IC students to NYC every weekend.
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AtwaterLouse
Agree with the compliments to WCP. Very good topic and well written article.
Chris69 - Just curious about your #5 point. What would motivate Canada to close the Welland Canal to ocean-going ships? Was that one just wishful thinking?
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IvantheTerrible
Al-Alo - It's Binghamton. There is no "P". It's not one of the Hampton towns on eastern Long Island.
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