When the word infrastructure comes up many of us think of roads, ports, waterways, railroads and maybe electricity and sewers. These are the basics of infrastructure and have been under invested in now for many years. But infrastructure should also include the staging area of logistics.
The Georgia Port Authority recently invested in an inland ports in Cordele, GA and Murray County GA in northwest Georgia as a place to assembly freight going to and from Savannah, GA a growing port. By making it easier and more cost effective for local industries to serve the port, their business has a chance to grow, raising employment and increasing tax revenue.
And yes, there is a chance these investments no matter how well thought could fail. In the present political and cynical climate, only overwhelming success can stop strong political criticism of projects like these. Additionally, individuals who may loss property or have their peace destroyed by industrial activities are sure to be opposed to projects like these.
My philosophy is that there is role for government to play as a catalyst and sometimes planner in these logistics projects. One of the fundamental goals of government should be (particularly in a democracy) is to do its part in economic growth. Away from the supply chain, when you see a strong downtown area in a city it is almost always successful, because local government support was instrumental in its planning and success. Yes, tax payers dollars were used but in these cases, investments were paid back by the growth in the local economy.
You can site examples on this on the federal level, interstate highways, and state level also such as the inland ports mentioned above. Relatively rarely, unfortunately, those the electorate think in these terms, but we should in the logistics community would be wise to support well researched and thought out projects.