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Representative Mitch Gillespie


Volume 10, Issue 16
August 27, 2008



Inland Port Update

Triangle

Mountain port will be no joke

Virginia has one. Texas has a bigger one. North Carolina wants another one. Why are inland ports popular? Supporters say they’re worth millions in trade and can create hundreds of jobs to prepare containers for shipping. Proponents who persuaded legislators to appropriate $50,000 to study one for western North Carolina say it doesn’t matter that Wilmington, the state’s largest seaport, is 360 miles away.

Why western North Carolina? Backers say it is roughly the geographical center of the United States east of the Mississippi. The trump card is its transportation network. Clinchcross Crossing is a major intersection of north-south CSX and east-west Norfolk Southern railroads. It’s on the east side of Marion, 34 miles east of Asheville. Interstates 26 and 40 intersect in Asheville, 26 and 85 cross near Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., and 26 and 81 meet near Johnson City, Tenn. All are trucking hubs.

Karen Fox, spokeswoman for the N.C. State Ports Authority in Wilmington, says inland ports allow manufacturers to consolidate shipments in ship-ready containers before moving them to crowded ports, saving time and money. Rep. Mitch Gillespie, who lives in Marion and represents McDowell and Burke counties, introduced three inland-port bills in the General Assembly to define the state’s stake in what likely would be a public-private partnership. Smaller inland terminals, at the Charlotte and Greensboro airports, were built by the state several years ago.

Gillespie says Marion “makes a good case for itself. But Asheville is also attractive.â€