Port of Mobile

 

The Port of Mobile is second to none in the Southeast in access to transportation infrastructure with 2 major highway interstate systems crossing in Mobile, 5 Class A Railroads serving the port, Brookley Air Center adjacent, and direct access to the Intracoastal Waterway as well as the Warrior Tombigbee, Alabama River, and Tennessee Tombigbee Waterways giving water access to Birmingham, Montgomery, and connecting to the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers and their river ports. Additionally, the 300 year old port including the Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) and private facilities supports 17 freight forwarders with 9 of them Customs House brokers, 5 major shipbuilders in the harbor, some 60 trucking companies, and 13 towing/barging companies. The port is expanding beyond the container facility construction as the ASPA is building a major import steel slab facility to support the Thyssen Krupp steel plant. The nearby Theodore Ship Channel also hosts major cement, chemical, and aggregate companies as well as the oil and gas industry. Additionally, Carnival Cruise Lines operates out of the Port of Mobile, offering passengers Caribbean destinations and tours.

The Alabama State Port Authority alone includes 37 cargo piers including a bulk material handling plant, grain elevator, roll on roll off dock, container facility and one of the largest and most modern coal export/import facilities in the world. The Port Authority also includes 10 terminals along the state waterway systems. The Port Authority is spending $300 million on a modernization program including a new container and intermodal terminals.

According to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, for 2007, the Port of Mobile ranked number 10 in the country in total port cargo tonnage by volume. Over 1,500 vessels called at the Port in 2008.

 

Of special note is the growth in container handling in Mobile. In September 2008 the first phase of the Choctaw Point container facility opened with an initially capacity of handling over 300,000 TEUs. After the final phase is complete, capabilities of handling 800,000 TEUs annually will exist.

 

LINK TO HARBORMASTERS DAILY REPORT OF SHIPPING

Choctaw Point Facility

Intermodal Terminal

Source for Choctaw Point Container Facility and Garrow's Bend Intermodal Container Transfer Facility drawings: ASPA