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But these events also had a dramatic and largely negative affect on America, and on one American state in particular, far from the obviously wounded New York, and that was Texas. In the way of background, the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 had transformed the once sleepy Texas-Mexico border into a significant port of entry. Trade with Mexico increased 140 percent between 1993 and 2000. Towns like Laredo, Brownsville, and El Paso were now being mentioned in the same breath as Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. Indeed, so powerful was the impact of NAFTA on American commerce that it had begun to shift the largely east-west flow of American commerce established after World War II and reinforced by the Interstate Highway System towards a north-south orientation. September 11 and its aftermath, however, added a dramatic new level of security monitoring on to the various customs, environmental and regulatory inspections that were already taxing the patience of transporters and border monitors alike. The sluggish flow across an overwhelmed Texas border slowed to a trickle and threatened to choke off this vital source of trade. To be sure, the U.S. government and the state of Texas are hustling to make the kind of innovat- ions that will solve its security problems, problems that will not go away anytime soon. In the interim, however, these same problems provide Kansas City an excellent opportunity to emerge as a smarter, faster, roomier, more secure inland port-- perhaps the most significant inland port in the Midwest, even throughout North America. Location is part of it. For the record, the city is located within 150 miles of both the geophysical and population centers of the United States. With the newly re-established balance between east-west and north-south commerce, Kansas City is well positioned once again to redefine itself at the nation's crossroads--much as it did in 1867 when it convinced the Chicago, Burlington, Northern railroad to bridge the Missouri River here. The existing infrastructure helps as well. Kansas City International Airport ranks as the highest volume cargo airport in a six state region with the largest on-airport Foreign Trade Zone in the U.S. KCI also enjoys 10,000 acres of expansion space to facilitate aggressive expansion. The KC area is served by three major Interstates, I-70, I-35, I-29 in addition to the US-71 connection to the new I-49 interstate to New Orleans. The area yields 30 percent more freeway miles per capita than any metro in the world. Kansas City is the second largest rail center in the U.S., served as it is by four of eight Class 1 rail carriers, three regional lines, and a local switching carrier. Among those carriers is Kansas City Southern, the self-described "NAFTA railway," which has also launched the International Freight Gateway intermodal rail hub on the former site of the Richards-Gebaur Air Force base. In addition, seven barge lines operate along the Kansas City area of the Missouri River and 41 docks and terminal facilities exist in the metro area. National politics will matter. To transfer various regulatory functions from the border to inland ports will likely require enabling legislation. The presence of U.S. senators from both Kansas and Missouri at Ingram's Industry Outlook suggests that the bi-state nature of this metropolitan area can work to our favor politically. Kansas City's relative inexperience in this business may also work to its advantage. Unlike the border cities (north and south), this area has little technology to replace or work force to retrain. The work already underway nationally to automate management information systems and to digitize the paper trail--work energized by post 9/11 security concerns--might more easily be tested in the Kansas City area than elsewhere. As in 1867, however, neither infrastructure nor location will secure our future. If these were all that mattered, Leavenworth would serve the role that Kansas City does today. Our natural commercial growth will not make it happen either. The relatively soft demand for space at the International Freight Gateway's office park is a testament to the same. As both Senator Roberts and Bond made clear, the will to establish the Kansas City area as a prime inland port has to be mustered at the local level. On the plus side, the studies have begun and the initial groundwork has been laid. What is needed now is what the city mustered in 1867--a collective willingness to hustle and hustle hard. Only time will tell whether KC's leaders of industry and our elected officials have what it takes to get the job done. |
