Inland International Port of Dallas (IIPOD)

Dallas’ Global Gateway

The Need:

International trade with Canada and Mexico, as well as Asia, is growing rapidly, and is expected to grow by 85% by 2020. Additional capacity is needed at deep-water ports to off-load and distribute cargo from the large trans-pacific vessels.

The Resources:

The Dallas region is home to five interstates, good rail service, foreign trade zone acreage, intermodal facilities and two reliever airports that could be expanded in the future. The City of Dallas has signed agreements with the Port of Houston, four Mexican ports (Guaymas, Lázaro-Cárdenas, Manzanillo and Topolobampo) and the Panama Canal to explore and utilize Dallas as an inland port.

The Solution:

The Dallas NAFTA Trade Corridor Project Primary components include:

• River of Trade Corridor Coalition
• Agile Port System
• Liner/Foreign Trade Zone
• Inland Port of Pre-Clearance
• Cargo Airport
• Safety and Security

When completed, the project will include an Inland Port facility to process goods arriving via truck or train from deep-water ports of Mexico, RFID and other technology to facilitate information exchange between modes of transportation, customs facilities for Mexico and Canada to eliminate border clearance wait-times, Foreign Trade Zones and Linear Trade Zones for beneficial tax and customs treatment and a Cargo Airport.

The Benefits:

The City of Dallas is committed to maintaining a business infrastructure that creates a strategic partnership with the business community.

• New warehousing and distribution facilities built to take advantage of intermodal services.
• Time and financial savings to shippers using IIPOD.