The opening coincides with completion of the first building inRGLP's truck-to-rail transfer section, a 407,000-sf facility forHyperlogistics Group Inc. The park is divided into several sectionson either side of the airport. "The intermodal yard will drivedevelopment in this part of Columbus for the next 15 years andmaybe beyond. It is really a big part of the puzzle," says CurtBerlin, a broker with NAI Ohio Equities LLC in Columbus whorepresented Hyper Logistics in negotiations for its property.

Berlin tells GlobeSt.com the terminal's importance will bemagnified by the railroad's anticipated late 2009 completion oftrack improvements that will allow double-stacking of containersfor transport from the Port of Norfolk to Columbus and on toChicago. At present, tunnel heights and insufficiently reinforcedoverpasses limit train loads to single-decking. The railroadexpects the doubling of capacity to significantly reduce both thecost and time of overland shipping. The reductions will helpNorfolk compete with West Coast ports for Asian imports bycompensating for the additional time and expense to ship goodsthrough the Panama Canal to the East Coast.

Distributors that locate near the terminal can also saveadditional time at their end. According to Hyperlogisticsco-founder Geoff Manack, relocating his business near the terminalwill enable it to ship customers' products within 72 hours of theirarrival in port, shaving a full day off the previous turnaroundtime. The terminal's first phase adds about 100,000 containertransfers a year to Norfolk Southern's regional capacity. Futureexpansion could lift the total to 400,000 transfers annually.According to Lou Jannazo, chief of project development for the OhioRail Development Commission, the state's existing intermodalterminals are at capacity, primarily because it costs $50 to $150less to ship a container by rail than by truck, with thedifferential increasing with the cost of gas.