Indy World Skyport and FedEx's Fred Smith

The first page Wall Street Journal story about Airbus today (10/15) recalled to mind an in-depth interview I had with Fred Smith, founder/chairman/CEO of FedEx about a year ago. Smith was in Indianapolis for the annual Japan-Midwest Summit. My firm was supporting the conference (which had record attendance) in a marketing and media relations project.

The Indianapolis Star sent a reporter for the private interview, who later chronicled the potential impact FedEx would have on the new Indianapolis International Airport when the monster Airbus A380 came into service to Indy later in the decade. What I found fascinating, which was largely left out of the Star article, was Smith's comments about Indianapolis becoming the "Liverpool of the 21st century" as its TDL (transportation, distribution and logistics) operations continued to expand with global implications. Smith spoke at length about the expanding FedEx facility at the Indy airport, which today is second in the world. Liverpool, of course, was a leading (if not the "leader") seaport for global trade during the height of the British Empire.

As Mark Writt, a senior VP at CB Richard Ellis' Indianapolis office, recently pointed out at the 2nd annual CBRE IN Focus conference, few regions in the United States possess the capacity for global TDL growth than do Indianapolis. Writt posted up a map of the region during his talk, which illustrated graphically the incredible TDL-related expansion that the Greater Indianapolis region has undergone in the past decade. More intercontinential Interstates reach Indianapolis than any other American urban area, and with the demise of the hated Hoosier inventiry tax, "big box" distribution growth has been running at record levels. Amazingly, many people still think of the TDL industry as a "sweatshop" of low-skilled workers. TDL professionals well know that the TDL industry is a high-tech industry employing multiple thousands of IT pros for automated inventory, GPS high-speed tracking and robotic distribution (just to name a few). Apart from Indiana's superior interstate trucking and overnight delivery capabilities, the state is also surprisingly one of the top port shipping entities, with major sea-access ports in the northwest corner (near Chicago) and in the south along the Ohio River. If that doesn't win you a bar bet, nothing will.

Indiana has been the Median Center of the U.S. population for more than a century, and it appears -- particularly with the massive highway and interstate improvements currently underway with the Governor's Major Moves initiative -- that Indiana will truly capture and sustain its long-time nickname" The Crossroads of America."

“They say all roads lead to Indiana. Indeed that is true,” said conference chair Yuzaburo Mogi at the conclusion of the 38th annual Midwest U.S.-Japan Conference.