Memphis, however, is much more than an Aerotropolis built around FedEx
services, as a staff report in the trade magazine Inbound Logistics (2008)
demonstrates. It is an important trucking hub where interstate highways I-40 and I-55 intersect and, in the future, I-69 (the ‘‘NAFTA Highway’’) will go through.
All major US truck lines operate significant terminals in the Memphis area and it is
home to 400 trucking companies, making it possible to ship goods from Memphis
by truck to 152 US markets overnight and reach most of the US population with
second day service. Memphis is also an important Rail hub: The Canadian
National Railway connects Memphis with the Gulf Coast, Chicago, and all of
Canada. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Union Pacific connect
Memphis with most large cities west of the Mississippi, including the major
Pacific ports; and CSX and the Norfolk Southern connect Memphis to most of the
Midwest and East Coast cities and ports, as the interactive graphics page put up by
the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute of the University of Memphis (IFTI
2010) demonstrates. Finally, Memphis is the 4th largest inland port in the US and
the 2nd largest port on the Mississippi River, handling over 19 million tons
annually (Schmitt 2009). These other transportation and logistics options were an
important factor in attracting heavy industry to Memphis, such as the Nucor steel
plant, which opened in 2008.