Northeastern Pennsylvania offers a good environment for logistics and transportation employers
Well-recognized firms such as AutoZone, Office Max, Michaels, and Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Wegman’s have located and/or expanded in the northeast region.
The region offers:
- Excellent transportation access to a multi-state regional market;
- Strong land and building availability; and
- Competitive operating costs versus Harrisburg, the Lehigh Valley, New Jersey, and Middletown, New York.
Why are Greater Hazleton and Northeastern PA ideal for Logistics and Transportation?
Location
Northeastern Pennsylvania is served by five Interstates, including I-81, I-80, and I-84 – the backbones of commerce in the Northeast. These Interstates traverse the region, providing optimal access to almost every destination in this major market area within six hours or less. Greater Hazleton is located at junction of Interstates 80 and 81, the Crossroads of the Northeast.
Low Operating Costs
A distribution center locating in the region will benefit from significantly overall lower operating costs than other advantageously located areas in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, Central and Northern New Jersey, and the New York Metropolitan Area. A combined cost model for a representative distribution center that includes real estate, labor, outbound freight, utilities, and taxes for a distribution center employing 800 workers shows that a Northeastern Pennsylvania distribution center could offer an annual savings of $3 million over a Harrisburg location, $5.2 million over a Middletown, N.Y., site, and almost $7.2 million over a Central New Jersey location.
Labor would generate the most significant savings. In the cost model, an annual savings of $2.1 million to $4.8 million could be realized at a Northeastern Pennsylvania location over comparable locations in Harrisburg, Central New Jersey and Orange County, New York.
Freight costs for a regional distribution center in the region are also lower than locations in central New Jersey, Metropolitan New York and the Harrisburg area. For example, a distribution center with combined class 85 TL and LTL shipments destined for a 17-state and two-Canadian-province area (southern Ontario and Quebec), annual shipping costs from Stroudsburg are about $250,000 cheaper than a central New Jersey location, $721,000 cheaper than an Orange County, N.Y., location and just over $1 million cheaper than a Harrisburg site.
Workforce Training
The region boasts a strong, well-established community college and vocational college network that offers customized training programs in those courses needed by transportation and logistics operations, such as warehouse/distribution management, distribution and supply logistics, logistics technologies, logistics and supply chain management, supply chain and information systems and auto, heavy equipment and diesel mechanics.
Available Sites and Buildings
The Hazleton area has numerous “ready to go” sites and available buildings to accommodate new industry operations that want to take advantage of the area's assets. There are a number of vacant sites and buildings suitable for a range of industry needs, from small operations to big-box installations. The sites are properly zoned and fully served by utilities, many of which are located within Keystone Opportunity Zones.
Distribution Companies in the Hazleton Area
Some of the larger distribution companies in Greater Hazleton include:
| Company | Service | Square Feet |
| Michaels Stores | Northeast distributor of handcraft products | 1,130,026 |
| Karchner Logistics | Warehouse | 1,010,000 |
| Amazon | Northeast distributor of books, cds, dvds | 615,600 |
| Office Max | Northeast distributor of office use products | 615,000 |
| Auto Zone | Northeast distributor of auto parts | 600,000 |
| Romark Logistics | 3PL - Food products | 526,000 |
| NBTY, Inc. | Distributor of vitamins | 413,600 |
| EB Brands | Giftware distributor | 360,360 |
| Bradley Caldwell | Distributor of hardware, farm & pet supplies | 335,000 |
| Affinia Group | Distributor of aftermarket parts for automotive industry | 289,000 |
| Tootsie Roll Industries | Northeast distributor of Tootsie Roll products | 240,000 |
| US Cold Storage | Refridgerated storage | 210,000 |
| Econoco | Retail fixtures | 209,000 |
The distribution facilities within the CAN DO parks obtain more than 7,500,000 square feet.
Download the Distribution Companies
Key Workforce Assets:
- Employers report satisfactory-to-good availability of a variety of skills needed by the transportation sector. Occupations available in the region include material moving workers, general laborers and freight, stock and material movers (hand). A variety of office skills are also available.
- Employers rate the level of basic skills as seen among job applicants as acceptable in four criteria - reading comprehension, verbal communication/comprehension and team and cooperative skills.
- Employers report satisfactory work ethic and productivity levels among employees. Employers are satisfied with their employees’ work ethic, productivity, willingness to work overtime and punctuality.
- Surveyed employers are pleased with the quality of graduates from the region’s postsecondary institutions. There is a good overall perception among the region’s transportation/distribution/logistics employers about many of the region’s two-year, four-year and graduate post-secondary institutions.
