Port of Nevada near Fernley “a huge opportunity” for the region

Nevada port developer says inland port east of Fernley not only alleviates routine shipping delays along Interstate 80, but also allows many more goods to move to northern Nevada from the Port of Oakland.

Justin Lichter, vice president of Industrial Realty Group of Los Angeles, told NNBW last week that the Port of Nevada accepted its first intermodal shipments in May from the Port of Oakland, the nation's ninth-largest seaport. The Port of Nevada is located between Fernley and Hazen and straddles Churchill and Lyon counties.

“Interstate 80 is not a smooth ride,” Lichter said. “There is traffic in the Bay Area and the Sacramento Valley, and there is also potential for road construction in the summer. Winters can be a nightmare with chain checks, snow and road closures. This causes a lot of time and uncertainty about transportation costs.

“Rail service takes truck traffic off the road and eliminates some of the challenges associated with traveling over Donner Pass in the winter or during road construction in the summer,” Lichter added. “This creates efficiencies in the supply chain and it is much more environmentally friendly to travel by train than by truck.”

Instead of loading 20- and 40-foot shipping containers onto trucks and transporting them across the Sierra to northern Nevada, they can now be loaded onto rail and unloaded directly at the Nevada Port, Lichter said. In addition to being a more reliable means of transportation, rail cars can accommodate a greater volume of cargo since they don't face weight restrictions on the road, Lichter added.

“The containers can be loaded up to 60,000 pounds each, so for every rail car you can get two containers,” he said. “You can load heavier and get more product in your container. »

Increased freight volume, lower transportation costs, and greater certainty of on-time delivery (trains are not affected by highway closures and continue to operate during severe snowstorms in Sierra) could very well be the deciding factors that tip the scales in favor of companies choosing Northern. Nevada versus competing markets such as Phoenix or Salt Lake City, Lichter noted.

IRG began developing the Nevada port about four years ago, Lichter said. The site had been served by both Union Pacific and BNSF since the main rail line was cut, and Industrial Realty Group completed two major track expansions to improve the flow of shipping containers in and out of the Port of Nevada.

Containers arriving in Northern Nevada from the Port of Oakland were shipped from destinations around the world. The Port of Oakland received about 70 percent of its total trade in 2023 from Asia, and another 15 percent from Europe. Once the containers arrive in Nevada, they are placed on trucks and sent to businesses in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center and to area distribution and manufacturing facilities.

The Nevada port has been exporting products such as timothy hay grown by Fallon ranchers and minerals mined in the Silver State for several years, Lichter said. Containers loaded for export at the Port of Nevada travel to destinations around the world, he added.

Industrial Realty Group's land position on the site is about 160 acres, Lichter said, and the Port of Nevada currently uses about 30 acres. IRG is developing a six-acre container storage farm, as well as a customs facility so that containers can clear customs in northern Nevada rather than at the Port of Oakland.

Clearing customs in Northern Nevada compared to Northern California saves a lot of time, Lichter noted.

“Containers do not need to wait at the Port of Oakland to clear customs, and that goes both ways since we are importing and exporting from the Port of Nevada,” he said.

There is also the issue of demurrage, which is the length of time a container remains at a terminal. Shipping carriers offer customers a predetermined amount of time to use their containers, and any time goods remain in a container beyond the contracted quantity, the customer charges extra.

The demurrage period begins when a container is unloaded from a train or ship and ends when it is picked up by truck. Previously, demurrage began when containers were unloaded at the Port of Oakland. Now the clock starts when they are unloaded at the Nevada port.

“It’s much more efficient for everyone involved,” Lichter said. “We've been working on this for years, and many elements had to be put in place with the approval of the shipping carriers providing service to Fernley and Union Pacific.

“This is a huge opportunity for Northern Nevada. This promotes imports, helps local farmers and ranchers with their exports, and can potentially create more production and jobs in Northern Nevada. It's been talked about in Reno for about 15 years, but no one has actually come to the table to do it. We are proud that IRG has reached what we will call the starting line.

Taylor Adams, president and CEO of the Western Nevada Economic Development Authority, told NNBW that the Port of Nevada is a natural addition to Northern Nevada's position as a national leader in distribution and logistics and helps the region maintain its competitive position.

“An inland port offers many tangible benefits that are not available with road trucking,” Adams said. “Anything we can do to bring more certainty to our local supply chain is a powerful asset. The port helps ensure a constant flow of goods to our market, and the more goods we bring to our market, the more goods our advanced logisticians can transport. This is simply a real improvement for our local economy.