Regional Growth Partnership

Transportation & Integrated Logistics

Why is the Toledo region a great logistics site? Within a 300-mile radius of Toledo, our region has access to the most industrial square footage in the United States and Canada. No other site in North America can make a similar claim.

No matter your choice of transportation and distribution, the Toledo region offers every available mode to meet the global needs of your business. Three of the country’s most traveled interstates cross through Toledo (I-80, I-90, I-75). Its location has made it a center for the trucking industry, including distribution centers for UPS and Federal Express. Toledo is also the largest general cargo port on the Great Lakes, and together with the ports of Sandusky and Huron, Toledo links to global markets through the St. Lawrence Seaway. Toledo is one of the top five rail centers in the country, in terms of tonnage handled, with major trunk lines providing service to the entire region. The new CSX Intermodal Terminal facility in North Baltimore will serve as the cornerstone of a new double stack freight rail corridor between East Coast seaports and the Midwest.

Toledo Express Airport offers passenger service as well as corporate and private aircraft services. It is also home to BX Solutions, a ground transportation logistics center. In addition, Toledo is about 45 miles from Detroit Metro, one of the largest and busiest airports in the United States, which offers major destinations to Europe and Asia.

The region offers abundant acreage for development of air-related freight distribution centers at Toledo Express Airport and deep water sites for heavy industry at the Port of Toledo. With the ability to break bulk onsite at the port, along with intermodal terminals for Trailers on Flat Cars and Containers on Flat Cars, Northwest Ohio is highly accessible to most locations across North America.

The Toledo region has been named a 5-star Logistics Metro by Expansion Management magazine, and IBM Global Business Services identified Toledo as a primary and advantageous location for value-added logistics.

Beyond its logistical advantages, the Toledo region provides opportunities and resources conducive to business growth. For starters, we offer, perhaps, the most ideal location for businesses in the United States. Nearly 100 million people live within a 10-hour drive.

Northwest Ohio Transportation & Logistics Advantages

Regional Assets

Rail

CSX Corporation’s new 500-acre Intermodal terminal facility lies adjacent to 2,000 rezoned acres immediately available for development. Ultimately, the facility will handle 2 million containers per year containing anything that can be purchased at a local retailer, while offering routing efficiencies, service reliability and transport times improved by 24 to 48 hours. Overall, four major freight railroads move freight through the region. With several rail yards loading petroleum products, automotive parts, completed automobiles, bulk and break-bulk cargo, and food products, Toledo ranks as one of the top five rail hubs in the U.S.

Sea

The Port of Toledo is well positioned as an inland distribution point for North American commerce and is home to 15 terminals linked to global markets through the Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Seaway System. The Port of Toledo handles over 12 million tons of cargo and 700 vessel calls each year, and The Toledo Shipyard is home to one of the only U.S. full service shipyards with graving docks on the lower lakes. Recent property acquisitions have more than doubled the size of the seaport – making it the largest land mass seaport on the Great Lakes. Learn more about the Toledo Seaport.

Highway

Northwest Ohio is a center for the trucking industry. Three major interstate highways serve the region; I-80 (East/West from New York to California); I-90 (East/West from Massachusetts to Washington); and I-75 (north/south from Canada/Michigan to Florida). Combinations of other connecting interstates make for direct links with major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Combined with its world-class transportation assets, the region provides unparalleled access to the North American marketplace, located within a day’s drive of nearly half the U.S. and Canadian industrial markets.

Foreign Trade Zones

Northwest Ohio features two General Purpose Foreign Trade Zones. The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority is the grantee of Foreign Trade Zone #8, encompassing the seaport, airport, and other key locations around metropolitan Toledo. The Findlay Hancock County Alliance features Foreign Trade Zone #151, focused around Tall Timbers Business Park, home to many international companies.

Major Logistics-related Companies

CSX

CSX is a leading supplier of rail-based freight transportation in North America. In Northwest Ohio, CSX recently opened its new intermodal terminal facility which employs more than 200 full-time workers. The terminal, which can handle more than 30 container trains per day, operates on 24,000 feet of working track, maintains an additional 100,000 feet of block swapping track and includes parking for approximately 280 units. The terminal allows for Chicago run-through service and will handle 500,000-600,000 lifts per year. The hub is part of National Gateway, a public-private partnership which supports the movement of double-stacked intermodal containers on rail cars by raising bridges, increasing tunnel clearances and building new terminals across existing rail routes.

Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia. In 2010, the company announced a $12.3 million project to expand capacity and upgrade Norfolk Southern’s Airline Yard in Toledo. The project will streamline intermodal operations and improve efficiencies at the yard. New track capacity, signals and new equipment and machinery are among the upgrades that will be included in the project.

Regional distribution centers (multistate)

Its central location and multitude of transportation assets have made the region a prime target for major distribution and warehousing centers. Some of the primary multistate distribution centers located in northwest Ohio include Best Buy, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Menards and Walgreens.