By Jennifer Oldham and Matthew Winkler

(Bloomberg) — Seven hundred miles from the closest ocean in Utah, the nation’s second-most arid state, Orient Overseas Container Line Inc. manages shipments via Pacific and Atlantic gateways.

A subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas International Ltd., OOCL opened an workplace in Salt Lake City in November 2013 to plumb a less expensive, extremely educated labor pool that features Mormon missionaries who communicate 130 languages. Other firms are becoming a member of OOCL, lured by a gross home product that’s anticipated to develop by 4 % within the subsequent yr, about double that of the U.S.

“They like the time zone, they like the work ethic, they like the quality of life,” Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, mentioned Oct. 27 in an interview within the capitol’s historic Gold Room. “Oracle came here about 12 years ago with some apprehension — all those Mormons nestled in the Rocky Mountains. Now they’ve told me it’s the No. 1 most-requested transfer location for their worldwide operations,” he mentioned of the world’s largest database firm.

OOCL’s transfer to Utah is a part of a nationwide pattern. From Arizona to New Mexico to Kansas City, competitors amongst states and cities to ascertain inland ports is accelerating as globalization forces firms to seek out inexpensive and quicker technique of transporting agricultural commodities, electronics, minerals and different items to abroad markets.

Desert Port

From 2000 via the primary quarter of 2014, 30 inland ports opened or have been introduced, in accordance with a 2014 report by Chicago-based actual property firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Utah is trying to create an inland port with OOCL that might ferry items from the Mountain States to the coasts.

OOCL’s resolution so as to add 300 jobs to the desert displays Utah’s booming financial system. Pick a superlative and the state lays declare to it: highest job-creation fee since 2012; best- performing state for private earnings up to now yr; highest fertility fee and youngest inhabitants within the nation. The addition of its 3 millionth resident in October — making Utah as giant as Chicago — garnered main headlines.

“It’s a little counterintuitive that a company like OOCL would choose an inland state without a seaport as its North American headquarters,” mentioned Derek Miller, chief govt officer of Salt Lake City-based World Trade Center Utah, a membership group that promotes commerce. “North, south, east and west the freeway system intersects in Utah, as well as rail lines, and they wanted to take advantage of that.”

Utah’s decrease tax charges prompted Lloyd Blankfein, chief govt officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to broaden its Salt Lake City workplace, the financial institution’s fourth-largest behind New York, New Jersey and London, Herbert mentioned.

Unlike different state economies that middle largely on a single business, corresponding to Alaska and Wyoming, the place stagnant oil costs led to plunging tax receipts, Utah’s various enterprise local weather is fueling an unprecedented enlargement. The state created jobs quicker than some other since 2012, including 126,400 positions, in accordance with information compiled by Bloomberg.

Recruitment Dilemma

Since 2009, when Herbert took workplace, the variety of jobs has elevated 17.6 %, making Utah one of the best performer after energy-rich North Dakota, the information present. The state now faces a recruitment dilemma, mentioned A. Scott Anderson, CEO of Salt Lake City-based Zions Bank.

“We are getting into a bottleneck where companies here can’t find enough employees,” he mentioned. “It’s driving up salaries, especially in high tech, medical devices, our financial industry and in health care.”

Goods manufactured in Utah, together with gold, silver and copper from its mines, are more and more being despatched abroad, rating the state ninth in export development, in accordance with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The greenback worth of its exports doubled within the final decade to $12.3 billion in 2014, in accordance with World Trade Center Utah.

To entice OOCL, the state offered $4.7 million in tax credit to the corporate, which is anticipated to pay $500 million in wages and $19 million in taxes, mentioned Val Hale, govt director of the state Office of Economic Development. Officials say they anticipate that the corporate’s presence, coupled with a $1.8 billion overhaul of the Salt Lake City International Airport, will entice different companies.

“We realize that 95 percent of our customers live outside America,” Hale mentioned. “About 85 percent of our economic growth potential is outside this country. If our economy is really going to take off the way we would like it to, exporting will be a critical part.”

–With help from Shin Pei in New York.

©2015 Bloomberg News

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