Last fall, UPS completed a $1.1 billion expansion of its UPS Worldport in Louisville, Ky., the centerpiece of its global distribution network. The expansion and renovation doubled the size of its Louisville sorting facility to 4 million square feet, in addition to increasing its processing capability to more than 300,000 packages an hour.

In January, Target Corp. completed a 1.3 million square foot regional distribution center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. With more than 230 loading docks and 1,100 truck trailer slots, the center expects to move 40 million boxes a year and will serve 70 to 100 Target stores in the Midwest.

In May, Hershey Foods Corp. announced plans to build a 1.1 million square foot distribution center in the St. Louis metro, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. The facility will be built on 90 acres of land in the Gateway Commerce Center in Madison County, Ill. It will have a 39-foot ceiling, 160 dock doors and full temperature control, and will be operated by Genco Distribution System, a third-party logistics provider.

The U.S. military has long identified the Midwest as a place for its major logistics facilities. In 1805, Lt. Zebulon Pike recommended that Rock Island, Ill., become a federal property because of its unique location offering easy access and control of traffic on the Mississippi River, and protection on the new military frontier.

Better known as Rock Island Arsenal, it is located in the Quad Cities metro of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Ill.

With the enactment by Congress of the Arsenal Support Program Initiative (ASPI) in 2000, allowing Pine Bluff Arsenal, Rock Island Arsenal and Watervliet Arsenal to rent unused space and underutilized capabilities to private industry, the Rock Island Arsenal now has a direct impact on attracting new businesses to the area. Today, the arsenal has seven ASPI contracts in place with various companies, all of which conduct business with other tenants on the island.

While the Rock Island Arsenal remains a military facility, Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, is a private-sector international logistics center located on what was formerly Rickenbacker Air Force Base.

More than 60 companies now operate on Rickenbacker, including Federal Express, UPS, Kraft Foods, Siemens, Whirlpool, Xerox, Spiegel/ Eddie Bauer, Exel Logistics and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

—Bill King, Chief Editor

Top 15 Logistics Cities in Midwest

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.-Wis.

2. Louisville, Ky.-Ind.

3. Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.

4. Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, Ohio

5. St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.

6. Indianapolis, Ind.

7. Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.

8. Detroit, Mich.

9. Chicago, Ill.

10. Fargo-Moorhead, N.D.-Minn.

11. Toledo, Ohio

12. Columbus, Ohio

13. Gary, Ind.

14. Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa-Ill.

15. St. Cloud, Minn.

SOURCE: “Logistics Quotient 2002™,” Expansion Management and Transportation & Distribution magazines.