Logistics.

In its simplest sense, it’s the movement of stuff from Point A to Point B. In the business arena, it’s the way products and materials are moved from point to point in the supply chain.

No matter how simple or complicated the definition, one thing is certain – logistics has become a critical economic driver as globalization and technology have revolutionized the way goods are transported around the planet.

And nowhere is logistics more important than in Georgia, which has the nation’s busiest international airport and fastest growing container port.

Consider this:

—Logistics users and providers in Georgia employ about 1 million workers statewide.

—Georgia’s logistics providers alone were expected to directly generate sales of $15.6 billion through 2008.

—For every 1,000 new jobs created by logistics providers, another 740 jobs are created in other sectors of Georgia’s economy.

—The combined value of output from logistics providers and identified dependent industry sectors totals $18.4 billion annually, or 5 percent of Georgia’s total GDP.

“It’s no longer of matter of ‘build it and they will come.’ In Georgia, we have to build it because the freight is already here with more projected to come our way,” said Page Siplon, executive director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics.

With that in mind, the Logistics Center in April released its 2009 Georgia Logistics Report, a first-ever comprehensive profile of the freight and logistics industry in the state.

The nearly 100-page document is packed with data, statistics, maps and information designed to paint a comprehensive picture of “where we are, where we’re going and what we need to get there,” Siplon said.

Now that the numbers are there, the next step is to create a plan – “a living document that will bring together all the various players with a focused, statewide strategy for the long run,” he said.

To that end, the Georgia Department of Transportation has solicited bids from firms interested in helping to develop a statewide freight and logistics plan through the year 2050.

Statements of Qualifications are due today with the selection process expected to be complete by early October, Siplon said. The final document should take 12 to 18 months to finish.

Why is a comprehensive plan so critical?

“While GDOT did complete the state’s first statewide freight plan in 2005, an updated and more robust plan is needed to ensure that Georgia remains competitive in attracting quality jobs, businesses, revenues, wealth and employees to the state,” said Todd Long, director of planning for the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Truck traffic, which carries 86 percent of all freight moved in Georgia, is growing at twice the rate of general car traffic, Long said.

“The increase in freight movement will further tax our already strained transportation network, and a strategic approach is needed to guide thoughtful, well-planned transportation investments to accommodate freight growth.”

A recent report issued by Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based global real estate services firm, bears this out.

According to media real estate Web site GlobeSt.com, the report predicts that East Coast port markets with deep-draft channels and sufficient intermodal networks are poised to capture the greatest market share in years to come.

“The Port of Savannah, the fastest growing in the U.S., is among those expected to benefit most, along with New York/New Jersey and Virginia,” GlobeSt.’s Carl Cronan said.

It’s a prediction that comes as no surprise to Georgia Ports Authority executives who have long advocated moving ahead with infrastructure and other improvements, even amid an economic downturn.

In a special-called board meeting Thursday, the Port’s Authority board agreed to take advantage of lower prices and purchase 25 new rubber-tired gantry cranes for 2010 and 2011, adding to the potential for capacity at the port.

A statewide freight and logistics strategy will dovetail nicely with that planning, giving Georgia and its port another leg up down the road.

Gov. Sonny Perdue perhaps said it best when he visited the Port of Savannah earlier this year:

“You can’t control the global economy, but you can be ready when it comes back.”