Feature, Freight News, Logistics, Rail, Road, Sea

Data Center Surge Drives Heavy-lift Strategies

[ May 19, 2026   //   Gary Burrows ]

AI’s explosive growth has brought a breakneck rush to build new data centers across North America, but the surge in capital spending is colliding with physical limitations, forcing rapid change in the breakbulk sector.

An estimated 17 gigawatts of AI capacity are under construction in the U.S. alone, with an estimated 681 projects totalling US$1.5 trillion in the global pipeline. And while this unprecedented boom is increasing demand for logistics providers, it is also exposing vulnerabilities that threaten timelines, budgets and the feasibility of deployment.

“The biggest challenge for data center projects is not the ocean leg, but power readiness and inland execution,” Ritesh Nair, regional projects director for North America, at Rhenus Project Logistics, told Freight Business Journal North America. “Power availability, grid interconnection, zoning and permitting remain the dominant challenges, which delay many projects as utilities struggle to match the scale and speed of demand. This directly impacts heavy-lift planning, since long‑lead equipment such as transformers, generators and cooling systems must be tightly coordinated with substation readiness and site construction.”

In practice, this has meant that the greatest operational risks lie inland and in final‑mile delivery, especially as development expands into markets like West Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and Wisconsin, where routing, permitting, escorts, access roads and limited laydown space often constrain execution.

Texas to Overtake Virginia

While northern Virginia is known as the largest market for hyperscale data center installations in North America, Nair said: “we are seeing a shift toward other states that are increasing their dominance in breakbulk heavy-lift demand … Texas, particularly Dallas-Fort Worth and broader regions tied to land availability, energy access and large AI campuses, are emerging as a key market for data center cargo and inland hubs.”

From a breakbulk perspective, these shipments are typically power and cooling components, along with ancillary infrastructure that keep data centers operational, comprising cargoes such as standby generators, transformers, switchgear lineups, substations, electrical skids, chillers, cooling skids, cooling support systems, prefabricated mechanical-electrical modules and similar components.

“We foresee rising demand in West Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Indiana and other power-available hubs. Texas could overtake Virginia by 2030, with 64 percent of capacity under construction in frontier markets such as West Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Ohio,” Nair predicts.

Modularization

To mitigate challenges, the industry is increasingly turning to modularization, which reduces onsite complexity, but makes delivery timing and schedules increasingly critical. Logistics providers are also expanding their resources to support mission-critical construction flows, with DHL, for example, adding 10 dedicated warehouse sites, totalling more than 7 million square feet in North America.

“Data center sites themselves can become bottlenecks due to tight schedules, fixed crane windows, limited tolerance for sequencing changes, and, in some markets such as Virginia, community opposition,” Nair said. “These pressures help explain the rise of modularization that we saw first-hand in a previous project, which helped reduce onsite complexity but makes delivery order and timing increasingly critical.”

In line with this approach, data center developers are designing and building ever-more-complex pre-assembled modules. While this can simplify the number of moves required it often adds constraints for carriers as these complete blocks require delicate handling and precise installation.

“Because AI racks consume far more power and generate a lot of heat, data centers increasingly rely on dense racks and advanced liquid‑cooling systems making power and cooling infrastructure even more critical,” Nair notes, adding that “more factory-built oversize units” than ever are moving as project cargo.