Fort Wayne Refused ‘To Be Denied’
(Image of Transpoint Intermodal Groundbreaking Ceremony Courtesy of our Partners at 21Alive.)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry believes a Mexico-based company’s $13.5 million cargo transfer facility plans will create a "focal point for distribution" in a region already rich with logistics assets. Transpoint Intermodal LLC broke ground Tuesday on its first U.S. facility, which is expected to employ up to 64 within three years. The company is also planning a hub in Valparaiso. Both are part of a global network moving shipping containers to and from ports in the Far East through Chicago.
Mayor Tom Henry tells Inside INdiana Business it will have a ripple effect throughout the region and beyond. "Unquestionably, we’ve said for quite some time that Fort Wayne could serve as the crossroads for distribution of goods to a lot of major cities and that’s exactly one of the reasons Transpoint chose Fort Wayne because of the demographics and the location of our community as far as movement of the cargo to places like Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati and so on."
In 2013, a major intermodal facility opened in Indianapolis to better move freight through Indiana and beyond from West Coast ports, bypassing delays that often occur with shipments that would go through the often-tied-up system in Chicago. A $17 million project connecting the logistics of the Ports of Indiana-Jeffersonville to the nearby River Ridge Commerce Center also includes an intermodal component.
The company says salaries for workers at the nearly 74-acre operation will be paid an average of around $50,000 per year. Transpoint expects to begin hiring early next year, with anticipated completion of the work by Indiana-based The Hagerman Group set to wrap up in April.
Transpoint is being offered up to $550,000 in conditional tax credits from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Mayor Tom Henry tells Inside INdiana Business it will have a ripple effect throughout the region and beyond.