By 2014 the Panama Canal will be doubling its capacity to carry significantly more and larger ships. What does that have to do with Missouri truckers? You’ll be surprised. Thousands of truckloads of freight come to the USA from China, Japan, and other countries in the Far East on huge container ships that are too big for the Panama Canal. These ships dock in California and load onto trucks and trains and head for the Midwest.
Beginning in 2014 those big container ships will go through the Panama Canal and head to New Orleans and Houston. Much of that freight will be loaded on trucks and be headed for Missouri with destinations in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis and hundreds of other cities. Looking at the interstate road map and it shows why Missouri and Missouri truckers will win. I-55 goes straight north from New Orleans to St. Louis and Chicago. Freight from Houston will take I-45/35 to Dallas and Oklahoma City and I-44 through Joplin and into the heart of the Midwest.
And the news gets better. Before the end of 2012m Missouri truckers will be zooming along the new I-49 from Pineville to Joplin to Kansas City. With the exception of a bypass around Bella Vista, Arkansas, which has been in the plans for many years, truckers will enjoy interstate highway from Kansas City to I-40 near Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
Joplin, for instance, is an enormous trucking hub. And the spokes leading to Joplin continue to increase. This means more jobs for Con-way Truckload, Prime, Inc. and all the other trucking companies in Southwest Missouri.
And remember, freight will be moving both ways, into the Midwest through New Orleans and from the factories and farms of the Midwest to be exported around the world. This is good news for Missouri and Missouri truckers.
Read more about the Panama Canal expansion project on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project