One of the reasons that made me go to Spain Last August was the plans of the Aragon's local government in Spain to establish the biggest logistics park in Europe. After visiting the park's facilities in Zaragoza, Spain; I was incredibly amazed by the idea of establishing a hub to offer intermodality in logistics and centralized supply chain services to the companies.

Recently similar efforts started in North America as well and Dallas acted as a pioneer in this sense. Commercial real estate developer The Allen Group announced it is hosting a grand opening ceremony today for the Dallas Logistics Hub (DLH), which, it said, is the largest new logistics park under development in North America.

The DLH is comprised of 6,000 acres that are master-planned for the potential development of 60 million square feet of vertical logistics and manufsacturing space, the Allen Group said in a statement. And it added that it is adjacent to Class I railroad carrier Union Pacific's intermodal Facility, the BNSF rail line, major highway connectors-I-20, I-35, I-45 and the proposed Loop 9-and Lancaster Executive Airport, which is in the master plan stages to facilitate cargo distribution.

According to Logistics Management, the Allen Group added that the DLH will serve as a major inland port bringing products by rail from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, including the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and Houston and the western deep water ports in Mexico for regional and national distribution.

Dan McAuliffe, vice president for The Allen Group's Texas management team, told Logistics Management that the DLH currently has the ability to accommodate companies with up to 1.1 million square feet available in several locations, as well as up to 2.2 million square feet in others.

"In a short period of time, we will begin development of our first phase of public infrastructure, which will open up more than 750 acres of land," said McAuliffe. He also noted that development for the DLH is part of four different cities-Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer, and Hitchins.

McAuliffe explained that the DLH will provide shippers with several benefits for importing and exporting freight, with the most notable one being its close proximity to an intermodal facility.

"Once a container is unloaded from a train to a trailer chassis, the haul to the warehouse [drayage] can in some case be more than $2.75 per mile," he said. "When you evaluate the additional operating cost of a facility which is located 20 miles from the intermodal facility, the annual drayage costs could be equal to the rent paid on the warehouse."

Other shipper benefits cited by McAuliffe were the DLH's close proximity to major highways in Texas, and dual Class I railroad carriers, which he said would make the DLH the only industrial park in North America with dual Class I intermodal facilities that would give shippers greater flexibility and a higher level of service.