RICHARDSON , Texas (Sept. 28, 2005) – Dallas City Councilman Bill Blaydes will be a featured participant in “DFW: From National Distribution Center to International Inland Port,” a one-day conference Oct. 18 sponsored by The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) School of Management’s Foreign Trade Institute.
“The focus of the International Trade Conference is to bring attention to the unique strengths of the North Texas region’s infrastructure of rail, air and interstate highways that can support an international inland port,” said John Fowler, director of Professional Development Programs at the UTD School of Management
Dallas city officials, led by Blaydes, have begun talks with Port of Houston officials to help clear Houston’s crowded docks by creating an inland port in southern Dallas County.
The inland port plan involves shipping maritime container cargoes by express rail from docks in Houston to Dallas for inspection, sorting and distribution.
A newly opened Union Pacific intermodal terminal in Hutchins and Wilmer is designed to handle 365,000 containers a year. The 360-acre terminal allows containers to be transferred from trains to trucks quickly and cost efficiently.
Dallas officials expect the inland port concept to attract warehousing and related industries to the city’s southern districts. Councilman Blaydes and consultant David Dean have approached companies such as Target Corp. with the idea of opening distribution warehouses near the inland port. The Port of Houston already is home to a large Home Depot warehouse, and Wal-Mart is building a similar facility there.
“In addition, the region has the legal, financial, education and distribution support infrastructure to assist companies in taking advantage of the international inland port,” Fowler said.
“Hosting this conference is a way of launching our Foreign Trade Institute and will help in gaining sponsors and visibility for this type of enterprise among the businesses that can benefit most from such a port,” said Dr. David Springate, associate dean for Executive Education at the UTD School of Management.
The cost of attending the seminar is $225. For more information, please contact John Fowler at 972-883-4697 or jfowler@utdallas.edu
About the UTD School of Management
Based on publications in the top 22 business journals spanning all areas of business, The University of Texas at Dallas School of Management faculty ranks 37th in research productivity among business school faculties nationwide, and U.S. News and World Report ranks the school’s Cohort MBA program among the top 64 full-time MBA programs in the nation and among the top 35 at public colleges and universities. The School of Management is the largest of UTD’s seven schools, with an enrollment that has doubled over the last eight years to about 4,400 students. The school’s new 204,000-square-foot building features classrooms with state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment, wireless connectivity, video-conferencing facilities, a computer lab, faculty offices, meeting rooms and an executive education center.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.