Study ranks York area high as location for distribution centers: Low costs, proximity to rail, Port of Baltimore are key factors

Target Corp. said it will establish an e-commerce fulfillment facility in a vacant warehouse at 325 S. Salem Church Road in West Manchester Township. (File - Daily Record/Sunday News)

A new report gives the York area high marks as a place for locating a distribution center.

Access to a rail line and the Port of Baltimore and comparatively low labor costs make the area one of the best places in the U.S. for siting a distribution center, according to a report from The Boyd Company, a Princeton, N.J.-based firm that advises companies on where they should locate.

The study comes after Target Corp. selected West Manchester Township earlier this month as the site for a massive facility to fill orders for its online customers. And auto parts maker Federal-Mogul is locating a distribution center in a new 708,000 square-foot building Chicago development firm First Industrial Realty Trust built in Manchester Township near Exit 24 on Interstate 83..

York does well when it comes to attracting such facilities "and we see that trend continuing," John Boyd Jr., principal at The Boyd Company, said in a telephone interview.

Inclusion on Boyd's list could help York County attract more warehouses and distribution centers in the future, said Darrell Auterson, CEO of the York County Economic Alliance.

"We like it when we rank well," Auterson said.

The York area makes Boyd's list of prime locations for warehouses and distribution centers for a number of reasons:

• Proximity to major East Coast cities that can be reached within a few hours.

• Low operating costs: Boyd calculates it costs $12.1 million a year to operate a 500,000 square-foot, 150-employee distribution center here, among the lowest cost of the eastern U.S. locations the study examined.

• York's low labor costs are a big part of that. Distribution center workers here make an average of $15.68 an hour, compared with $18.07 an hour in the New Jersey Meadowlands or $16.81 an hour in Stoughton, Mass., two other locations popular for distribution centers.

• York is about 50 miles from the Port of Baltimore, a major port positioned to benefit from a widening of the Panama Canal.

• Proximity to a CSX intermodal freight rail terminal located in Chambersburg, where freight can be transferred from rail to truck.

By the numbers

The York area is among the lowest-cost places for a distribution center in the eastern U.S., according to a report by The Boyd Company, a Princeton, N.J.-based site selection firm.

The study looked at 25 areas in terms of annual operating costs. Take a look at some of the locations ranked from most expensive to least expensive.

1. Stoughton, Mass. $15.02 million

2. Meadowlands, N.J. $14.6 million

3. Idaho Falls, Idaho $14.5 million

4. Bordentown, N.J. $14.2 million

5. Newburgh, N.Y. $13.6 million

12. Bethlehem, Pa. $12.8 million

17. York $12.1 million

21. Columbia, S.C. $11.7 million

23. Cordele, Ga. $11.4 million

25. Chesterfield, Va. $11.2 million

Source: The Boyd Company

Source: YDR.com