The Jackson-Evers International Airport, located five miles east of Jackson, is a United Customs port of entry and a designated Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ 158). The airport is served by two parallel 8,500-foot runways and an all-weather Category III precision approach landing system, and it is attended 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Four airlines provide 30 flights per day to 9 cities/10 airports. Aircraft fuel, repairs, and charters are available through a full-service, fixed-based operator. Located at the airport are air cargo carriers, freight forwarders, and a customs broker. Car rentals, restaurants, and ground handling are also on the premises.
Situated on 3,339 acres, the airport has more than 1,200 acres allocated for economic development opportunities. Recently completed at the airport was Phase 1 of the Mississippi Air Cargo Logistics Center, located on four-lane Highway 475 just three miles north of Interstate 20. This development combines a 40,000 square-foot multi-tenant warehouse with more than 500,000 square feet of dedicated apron and taxiway pavement. Ultimately, this project will provide 450,000 square feet of warehouse space and almost 3 million square feet of apron.
Mississippi’s highway system ranks among the four best in the country and the best in the southern United States. Primary access to the region is provided by I-55, which extends south to New Orleans, Louisiana and north to Memphis, Tennessee. Another primary access route is I-20, which extends west to Vicksburg before entering Louisiana and east to Meridian before entering Alabama. The city of Jackson serves as the hub of the Greater Jackson region and is at the convergence of a number of U.S., state and local roadways, including I-220, US-49, US-80, US-51, MS-18, and MS-25. This highway network provides access to a mulit-county labor shed.
Also located in the Greater Jackson region is the Port of Vicksburg. The port is a United States Customs port of entry and a designated Foreign Trade Zone. The port consists of a slack water channel 9,500 feet in length and 300 feet wide with 12 feet minimum depth. Vicksburg Harbor is connected to the Mississippi River by a 4,800-foot long channel maintained at 150 feet wide and 12 feet deep.
Facilities at the port include a 15-ton bridge crane and a T-dock equipped with a 125-ton crane; 129,000 square feet of insured and sprinklered space and open concrete slab storage; and a rail and road loop, allowing direct loading and unloading from barge to truck to rail.
One of the most outstanding features of the port is the LASH program. This program enables a barge to be sealed for international travel in Vicksburg and transferred directly to New Orleans, where the barge is then loaded with products still sealed. Ten barge lines service the Port of Vicksburg year-round without seasonal limitations.
The port is accessible from US Highway 61, which intersects with Interstate 20 six miles away. The site is also within a Commercial Trucking Zone and is served by 21 truck lines.
The Port of Vicksburg has twenty-one business and industries operating at the Port employing over 4,000 employees.
Canadian National (CN) maintains two main lines running north to Memphis, Tennessee; these lines converge in Jackson, where the railroad has a major terminal switching yard and office/shop facilities. The lines again diverge from Jackson to run south to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and southeast to Mobile, Alabama, via Hattiesburg, Mississippi. CN also operates an automotive facility in Jackson that serves the four-state area of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana. Jackson is the headquarters for CN’s United States central sub-region.
Greater Jackson is located at the center of the Kansas City Southern Railway Company’s (KCSR) strategic Meridian Speedway line from Meridian, Mississippi to Shreveport, Louisiana. The Meridian Speedway is one of the fastest growing rail corridors in the United States, and in recent years, KCSR has invested more capital in its infrastructure in Mississippi than in any other state on its system.
One of KSCR’s primary rail yards, High Oak Yard, is located in the Greater Jackson area, as is an 85-acre intermodal ramp with capacity for 300 cars and a 55-acre TransLoad Center for handling bulk plastics, food products, clay, forest products, and steel.