Damage control.(logistics impact of the Sichuan earthquake)

BYLINE: BY BILL DIBENEDETTO

Tom Escott saw buildings sway in Shanghai last month. The president of Schneider Logistics arrived in that city on May 12, the day the devastating Chengdu earthquake struck.

"The building we were in swayed and was evacuated, but there was no observable damage in Shanghai or Beijing," he said.

In the frenetic days that have followed the disaster, Schneider has partnered with Wal-Mart to help provide shipments of supplies to the earthquake zone. "We've been helping to shuttle supplies there," Escott said.

A Schneider branch operation in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, was suspended for several days, Escott said. "The road system near the epicenter - about 60 miles from Chengdu - is bad. But about 100 miles away, things are fairly normal because they are far enough away from the epicenter," he said.

From a logistics and infrastructure perspective, that's fairly good news in a situation that's all bad news. It is still too early to assess the full extent of the disaster, however.

ProLogis, the Denver-based industrial property developer that has been building distribution and warehousing parks in inland China, including Chengdu, was not ready to comment on the earthquake late last month. Cecile Fradkin, a …