What goes around, comes around.

• Author: Anderson, Sandy
• Position: Transportation and distribution system as roots of growth and prosperity - Special Report: Charlotte

Near the gate of Moss Trucking Co., on the north side of Charlotte, Alphonso Shiver heads his yellow-and-black 1989 Freight-liner onto Atando Avenue. On the flatbed trailer behind him are stacked steel racks, one of 50 loads destined to be installed in a new warehouse in Greencastle, Pa.

North of the city, off Interstate 77 near Huntersville, the day shift is taking over at the Unocal 76 truck stop. Debbie Hedrick sets four steaming cups of coffee and two danishes from her tray before two baseball-capped truckers and a husband-and-wife driving team. They've just dropped off loads of artichokes from California, clothing from Nevada and grain from Iowa. When they head out, they'll carry chemicals to New Jersey, manufactured goods to Miami and seat-cover material to car makers in Detroit.

South of Charlotte, at the main warehouse of Piedmont Distribution Centers, Joe Gill's Hyster forklift spears a pallet beneath 4 feet of Nestle Chocolate packets, spins it around and scurries down the 45-foot length of one of the dozen or so trucks that snuggle up to the warehouse like piglets suckling a sow. All around the stadium-sized warehouse's docking area, bright yellow forklifts dart like bumper cars at the Carowinds theme park, only a half-mile away.

These are but a few of millions of daily movements, motions that stitch together an economy sewn by Adam Smith's invisible hand. Hundreds of companies - from big conglomerates to mom and pops - move thousands of trucks, hundreds of planes and scores of trains, forming a system that makes an ant colony seem random in comparison.

Amid all the movement, within this intersection of rail lines, airways and highways, can be found the roots from which Charlotte grew and prospered - its transportation and distribution system.

"We're a crossroads," says Terry Orell, senior vice president of economic development for the Charlotte Chamber. "We've historically taken bulk goods and distributed them first through the Metrolina region, then through the Southeast, and now we're beginning to see distribution here become more national and international."

Based on wholesale figures, Charlotte is the nation's sixth-largest distribution center - and the largest one between Atlanta and New York. Nearly 35,500 people work for 2,423 companies involved in wholesale sales, according to the Charlotte Chamber. No other single sector has a greater impact on the city's economy, chamber officials say.

It's an impact that can't be bound by city limits or county lines. No one outside Charlotte will readily admit it, of course, but when national and international companies make site selections they often focus on the Queen City as the center of a region stretching from Greensboro to Spartanburg, S.C.

This slice of the Piedmont Crescent contains 53% of the Carolinas' population and two-thirds of their industrial employment. Within a full day's drive - 24-hours'...