AMES, Iowa -- It's hard to imagine Des Moines as a port city. Sure, it's located along the Des Moines River, but that waterway is incapable of large scale commerce.
But a team of researchers from Iowa State University's College of Business had a different port in mind when they did a feasibility assessment for Des Moines Inland Port partners back in 2001. Their report referred to "an inland, intermodal port that would facilitate international and domestic commerce." And the ISU researchers agree that "X" marks the spot for an inland port because of the city's location at the intersection of Interstates 35 and 80.
Officials from North America's SuperCorridor Coalition Inc. (NASCO) and the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization agree. And that's why the port partners recently launched a virtual port (http://www.portdesmoines.org/), which was a recommendation in the ISU feasibility study. The port partners are also playing a critical role in this week's NASCO 2010 Annual Conference, June 15-17, at the Polk County Complex in downtown Des Moines.
"Keep in mind that NASCO stands for North America's Supercorridor Coalition and that Interstate 35 extends from Canada to Mexico," said Dick Poist, a professor of logistics and supply chain management and co-principal investigator in the feasibility assessment. "Des Moines plays a prominent role as far as being located on I-35 and I-80. And I think NASCO thought from a NAFTA standpoint that it was a good connector and we were right in the center to help facilitate the import and export opportunities."
A survey of potential users and service providers
For their report, the ISU researchers -- which also included Clyde "Skip" Walter, a co-principal investigator and professor of logistics and supply chain management; Mike Crum, an associate dean in the college and professor of logistics and supply chain management; and Paul Dyer, a research assistant -- collected data from potential Port of Des Moines users and service providers. Survey responses were received from 159 potential users, which included manufacturers, agricultural processors and potential exporters and importers; and 40 service providers, which were mostly trucking companies and transportation providers.
The virtual port was the ISU team's stage one solution.
"We recommended the e-port or virtual port first because it was lower in capital cost and much easier to set up," said Walter. "We put down four alternatives for them. One is a big physical center -- a brick and mortar approach -- and had transportation facilities that were probably intermodal, switching from road to rail using international shipping containers with expensive equipment. I think some people wanted that down in Des Moines."
Poist says the e-port is a way to get started and provide prominence to the idea of an inland port providing both economic and regional development. And according to the May 1 NASCO Report, "the Des Moines area continues to explore the development of physical port facilities."
"We think they're going to perhaps follow our recommendation where they're going to go from the basic e-port to an advanced e-port, and then over to what we called a 'click-and-mortar' approach, which combines computer capabilities with a brick and mortar-type facility," Poist said.
Prospects for building an intermodal facility
The brick and mortar presence would probably be an intermodal facility that would bring different modes of transportation together to facilitate more efficient import and export movements and domestic commerce. The ISU researchers agree that funding would represent an obstacle to building such a facility.
So a virtual port just makes more business sense right now. And Poist says that may be why port partners launched it now -- nearly a decade after the ISU team completed its report.
"Computer usage is pervasive right now and all companies deal with it," Poist said. "And so to set up an e-port is very feasible. The other thing, the state is looking for ways to expand economic opportunities and try to facilitate trade -- especially at times when the economic climate isn't the greatest."
"I don't know how much expanding outward they will do," Walter added. "I will assume it depends on how much the information source is used."
The information provided by the ISU researchers is now being used. But does the data collected in 2001 still apply to 2010?
"If we did this study today, I think we'd get similar results," Poist said. "Things have changed, but in terms of the study's results, I don't think they would have changed that much."
