The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (DMAMPO) and its member governments, in cooperation with the Greater Des Moines Partnership and its business members, believe that the Des Moines Inland Port offers a great economic development opportunity to businesses, given our location, our transportation system, our workforce, and our quality of life in central Iowa, Iowa, and the Upper Midwest.

The Des Moines Inland Port is the crossroads of America where two major interstate freight corridors intersect – Interstate 80 east/west and Interstate 35 north/south.  The Des Moines Inland Port also offers Foreign Trade Zone #107 which provides special customs procedures that defer or eliminate import-export fees for businesses engaged in international trade.  Iowa’s largest commercial service airport, Des Moines International Airport, serves the Des Moines Inland Port with air passenger, air cargo, and air freight service.  United Parcel Service, Federal Express, and DHL have presence at the airport.  The Union Pacific, the Burlington Northern Sante Fe, the Norfolk Southern, and the Iowa Interstate Railroads serve the Des Moines Inland Port and the region. 

The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, through its Freight Roundtable, has as a mission:

 “. . . to work with the public and the private sector to maximize the Des Moines metropolitan area’s, central Iowa’s, and Iowa’s economic opportunity through development of and advocacy for an efficient transportation system to promote economic development and trade in the North American trade corridor centered on I-35/I-29 and connecting Canada, the United States, and Mexico.”

The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, through the Des Moines Inland Port, are working to enhance the region’s transportation system with an intermodal road/rail facility.  Work is underway with the Des Moines International Airport to expand intermodal road/air regional distribution services in the region.  In addition, the public sector and the business community are investigating the establishment of a regional port authority to promote, to develop, and to handle increased intermodal freight activity in the region.

The Des Moines Inland Port symbolizes the strong public/private partnerships that are committed providing current and future businesses in the region with the strongest possible connectivity to the North American transportation system and to the North American Inland Port Network in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, which will truly “connect the Des Moines Inland Port with the world!”