HARLINGEN, Texas – The City of Harlingen has two 65-acre industrial parks and a 480-acre certified site known as the Aerotropolis that is located adjacent to our airport. Both parks are within easy access to the Free Trade International Bridge at Los Indios in the overweight corridor allowing for cargo to transport up to 120,000 pounds.
In addition to both of our industrial parks the Aerotropolis is a certified, shovel-ready AEP-quality site and is McCallum-Sweeney certified for immediate development.
We currently have more than ten customers located at the Harlingen Industrial Park. These manufacturing and distribution companies include Penske, Emerson, Cardone and, not too far off, United Launch Alliance.
Harlingen is centrally located in the Rio Grande Valley and because of this, companies rely on the fact that they are within 15 minutes of the Free Trade International Bridge at Los Indios. A bridge that has one of the fastest crossings regionally going into Mexico.
Other improvements have also been made to accommodate trucks that are moving large commodities like wind blades that you see at the various wind farms here in Cameron County.
The Port of Harlingen is a shallow water port that is an economic engine for the Rio Grande Valley. There are more than two million tons of commodities that are transported through our port. In a sense you can say that the Port of Harlingen literally keeps the Rio Grande Valley running because it provides most of the fuel consumed in this area. The port sits on 2,000 acres and is the second largest port in Cameron County.
Just minutes away, Valley International Airport is the largest airport in the region with one of the longest runways south of Corpus Christi, Texas. The Federal Aviation Administration ranked Valley International Airport the 71st in the nation for cargo airports. Meaning that it is the 71st busiest in the nation and moved 366 million pounds of cargo in 2018, making it the ninth busiest airport and cargo shipper in Texas.
New and sustained developments and investments in transportation infrastructure, the connectivity provided via road, air, water and rail makes Harlingen, Texas, a prime spot for business.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary was made by German Rico, industrial development manager for Harlingen Economic Development Corporation. Rico made his comments during a webinar hosted by Rio South Texas Economic Council. The webinar featured a virtual tour of industrial parks in the Rio Grande Valley.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary is the third in a four-part series featuring a recent webinar by Rio South Texas Economic Council. Click here to read Part One, which features an economic development update on Brownsville. Click here to read Part Two, which explains who RSTEC is. Part Four will be posted in our next edition.
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