Memphis, TN and New Orleans, LA continue their domination of logistics categories in Business Facilities 10th Annual Rankings Report.
Memphis, home to FedEx’s global shipping hub, again tops BF‘s annual list of leading U.S. Air Cargo centers. Rounding out the top five in BF‘s Logistics Leaders (Air Cargo) metro rankings category are Anchorage, Louisville, Miami and Los Angeles.
New Orleans is the No. 1 metro in the magazine’s Logistics Leaders (Ports) category, followed by Houston and the Port Authority of NY/NJ. New Orleans (MSY) also is home to BF‘s Fastest Growing (U.S.) Airport.
“If you’re shipping something by air, it’s probably going through Memphis, and by water it will travel through New Orleans,” said BF Editor in Chief Jack Rogers. “Memphis has earned its designation as America’s Aerotropolis.”
“The world-class logistics infrastructure in New Orleans, which is second to none, was a key factor making Louisiana our top-ranked state for Best Business Climate this year,” Rogers added.
With climate change moving to the top of the global agenda, everyone is paying more attention to efforts to increase the use of renewable energy. So BF revamped its Renewable Energy Leaders ranking to throw its spotlight on the metros—and a couple of entities within metros—that are walking the walk as well as talking the talk.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the top 30 metros in terms of renewable energy use are consuming more than 2.8 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) annually, which is equivalent to eliminating the amount of carbon dioxide generated by the electricity use of more than 270,000 American homes.
Houston, the top-ranked metro in BF‘s new Renewable Energy Leaders category, is contracting for about 623,000 kWh of wind power to meet about 48 percent of its electricity needs.
“The birthplace of Big Oil has made a Texas-sized commitment to renewable energy, setting an example the entire country should follow,” Rogers said.
BF‘s new Exports Growth Leaders category ranks the locations that have fueled their recoveries with exports. While the appearance of exports behemoths like New Orleans and Houston in the top 10 are not surprising, some may raise their eyebrows when they see Youngstown, OH at the top of the chart and Toledo, OH in the top 10.
“All of the economic obituaries written about the Rust Belt during the Great Recession were totally off-base,” Rogers noted. “Manufactured goods produced in the Youngstown metropolitan area are being shipped around the globe, lifting the economy for the entire region.”
According to a study by the Brookings Institute, the Youngstown MSA actually has led the nation in export growth for several years. The value of products exported from the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman region soared by 22 percent from 2009 to 2012, reaching a value of $4.7 billion.
BUSINESS FACILITIES 2014 METRO RANKINGS REPORT
LOGISTICS LEADERS (AIR CARGO)
- MEMPHIS
- ANCHORAGE
- LOUISVILLE
- MIAMI
- LOS ANGELES
LOGISTICS LEADERS (PORTS)
- NEW ORLEANS
- HOUSTON
- NY/NJ
- BEAUMONT, TX
- LONG BEACH, CA
RENEWABLE ENERGY LEADERS
- HOUSTON, TX
- WASHINGTON, DC
- AUSTIN, TX
- DALLAS, TX
- MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD
EXPORTS GROWTH LEADERS
- YOUNGSTOWN, OH
- NEW ORLEANS, LA
- BATON ROUGE, LA
- DETROIT, MI
- SALT LAKE CITY, UT
For complete results of Business Facilities 10th Annual Rankings Report, click this link.
 and New Orleans (port) are top ranked for logistics, while Houston is #1 for renewable energy and Youngstown leads in export growth.){kind=link}