At the end of June, Port KC shared with ITC what the forecast looks like for imports in the Kansas City area and the future looks good!

A trade study prepared for Port KC by KPMG shares:

"International trade depends on the two-way transit of containers. Kansas City has much to offer in loaded exports of regional products such as animal feeds, grains, and meats. The 2021 outbound rail volume is estimated at 190,000 loaded TEU. Consistent with America’s history to import more than it exports, and the need to balance rail car movements, Kansas City’s outbound intermodal trains handle a considerable number of empty containers in addition to export cargoes. Looking ahead, Kansas City’s demographics and the expectation for continued economic gains is attracting industrial development of buildings and logistics parks for retail distribution, e-commerce, agricultural product transloading, and general manufacturing. These commercial expansions, and the consumer spending that fuels them, portents sustained growth in container imports. The forecast includes a compound annual average volume growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% through 2030. This nearly matches the 6.0% CAGR achieved between 2016-2021 despite the depressing economic impact caused by the pandemic. The 2030-2040 outlook anticipates import gains averaging 3.9%. Longer term, conservative planning is likely to be more useful than reasoned projections acknowledging how recent unprecedented external shocks to the global economy and its trade activity lowers forecasting confidence. For 30 years forward, an estimated CAGR of 1% to 2% for Kansas City’s economic performance and its parallel trade volume expectation is considered reasonable."