Foreign Trade Institute Launches with a Conference on a 'Crucial' Dallas Trade Topic The initiative to make Dallas an inland port for global freight transfers gave the SOM Foreign Trade Institute a timely subject that drew a very interested audience to its inaugural public forum. By John H. Ostdick Twelve miles south of downtown Dallas on Interstate 45, the big rigs zipping in and out of Union Pacific's sprawling new freight-transfer facility are signs of hope that the North Texas region in general and South Dallas in particular are on the move. Operations at the new 342-acre "railport," which opened only last September, hinge on one key function: moving freight, without repacking any shipping containers, by more than one mode of transportation. Hence, the hub's name: the Dallas Intermodal Terminal. But while the name is local, the venture is global, because the incoming and outgoing containers hold imports and exports that are traversing the world. Since 1989, Union Pacific, the largest U.S. rail company, reports that its international volume has increased nearly 37 percent (an annual growth rate of 8.2 percent). During 2003, consumer goods shipping from the Far East to Dallas via intermodal container grew by more than 20 percent, the company says. Overall, international trade in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area has increased 67 percent since 1971, according to Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce figures. The region's total international trade reached $49.6 billion last year, a nearly 13 percent increase from the $44 billion mark of 2004. The chamber's figures show that the area's largest trading partner, China, accounted for much of that growth, with a 34 percent increase in imports. China trade represented 27 percent, $13.6 billion, of the area's trade last year, versus 23 percent, $10 billion, in 2004. And DFW trade with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries totaled $1.5 billion in 2005, up from $891 million a decade earlier. A Dallas port? The Perfect Topic Such activity and concentrated local efforts to create a thriving inland trade port caught the attention of the leaders of The School of Management's new Foreign Trade Institute. The institute was found-ed last summer to foster international trade growth in Texas, and its top hands were searching for a topic for its first conference scheduled for October. One of the SOM's international consultants, Thierry Meyrat, "suggested we focus on the development of the Port of Dallas," because it was a significant - but not widely known - trade topic for the region, explains David Springate, Ph.D., SOM's associate dean for executive education. "We realized it was the kind of issue that fit our mission very well," Dr. Springate says. Thus was born the institute's inaugural conference "North Texas: From National Distribution Center to International Inland Port." The one-day event held at the SOM attracted wide attention and drew more than 50 officials and others in the region interested in the impact of Dallas's developing inland port. How the initiative came about In March 2004, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and Port of Houston Authority Chairman James T. Edmonds invited a Dallas contingent, representing both governmental and business interests, to Houston to discuss plans to double container storage capacity of the port during the next 15 to 20 years. They also asked Dallas officials to consider working with them in trying to make Dallas an inland distribution point to facilitate the flow of goods. Houston realized that if it wanted to spread goods faster to Northeastern and Canadian markets, for logistical purposes it had to gain access to Interstates 20 and 45 in order to likewise access the NAFTA transportation chain that travels through Dallas on Interstate 35. A month later, a memorandum of understanding to forward that goal started a flurry of agreements and activity that's still in high gear. The port concept involves shipping maritime container cargoes by express rail from congested docks in Houston to Dallas for inspection, sorting and distribution. "Using Houston as a port of entry, with really efficient rail connections to Dallas, is an idea made in heaven, given the challenges we face," Undersecretary of Transportation Jeffrey Shane told The Dallas Morning News in June 2005. "It can be a model for the rest of the country." Conference highlights new institute's relevance Creation of a Dallas inland port gave the new Foreign Trade Institute a conference topic "crucial to the overall economic development of North Texas," notes John Fowler, director of SOM's new initiatives, under whose auspices the conference was produced. By "expanding on the topic to include representatives from other parts of the North Texas trade infrastructure, such as Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the UPS Supply Chain Group, and freight forwarders and expediters," Mr. Fowler says, the conference demonstrated "just how strong an international trade hub this area can be with the addition" of a Dallas inland port. Besides conducting specialized conferences, such as the one focused on the Port of Dallas initiative, the Foreign Trade Institute accommodates international events and visitors. It also develops programs based on SOM faculty's regional trade expertise, offers two online courses, provides professional consultants on trade issues and conducts reviews on certified global business professionals testing for the North American Small Business International Trade Educators. The institute works in tandem with the International Bridge for Business and Technology, an SOM program partner concerned with high-tech investment in the region, by facilitating trade initiatives for the area. As the Port of Dallas initiative goes forward, the institute does as well, planning to leverage SOM faculty expertise in its efforts. In starting the institute, Dr. Springate explains, "we looked at areas where we had resources in the region and at faculty and contacts we have internationally, and decided to initially focus on Canada, China, France and the European Union." The SOM's Exec Ed Foreign Trade Institute is currently working on a proposal to conduct seminars for several Dallas business groups and is in the early stages of planning a conference at the school focused on trade with the countries of Eastern Europe.