The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) is responsible for managing the Port of Mobile. The Port of Mobile covers an area of almost 1.7 thousand hectares including the main complex, McDuffie Island, Choctaw Point, inland docks (187 hectares), and other port sites.
The Port of Mobile contains 37 berths and over 37 hectares of warehouse and open yards. The channel for the Port of Mobile is 13.7 meters deep to the tunnels and 12.2 meters deep in the river harbor. The Port of Mobile is served by the Terminal Railway (TASD) with 75 miles of track, 247 freight cars, and eight locomotives.
In 2008, the ASPA welcomed 859 vessels into the Port of Mobile carrying 28.1 million tons of cargo, including 129.1 thousand TEUs. Port-wide, some 1295 vessels called at the Port of Mobile. The primary imports in 2008 included containers, coal, iron and steel, aluminum, copper, lumber and woodpulp, plywood, veneers, fence posts, paper, cement, and chemicals. Major exports through the Port of Mobile included containers, coal, plywood, lumber, woodpulp, laminate, flooring, paper, iron and steel, frozen poultry, chemicals, and soybeans.
There are 19 ASPA or state docks terminals in the Port of Mobile in addition to the privately owned and operated facilities. The Port of Mobile is served by four railroads: BNSF Railway, CSX Intermodal, Canadian National/Illinois Central Gulf, and Norfolk Southern Railway. The ASPA Main Docks Complex serves breakbulk, bulk, and project cargoes.
The new state-of-the-art Port of Mobile Container Terminal opened in 2008. This joint venture between the ASPA and Mobile Container Terminal LLC, which operates the terminal, brings the Port of Mobile's container capacity to 800 thousand TEUs.
There are 28 general cargo/intermodal berths in the Port of Mobile that handle almost equal volumes of imports (51%) and exports (49%). In 2007, these berths handled over 3.3 million tons of cargo. They are complemented by an 8.5-hectare container yard, a freezer terminal, a rail-ferry terminal, and a roll-on/roll-off ramp. The major cargoes handled at these berths include containers, iron and steel, woodpulp, copper, aluminum, lumber, linerboard, paper, and frozen poultry.
The Bulk Material Handling Plant in the Port of Mobile handles coal imports. In 2007, it handled 3 million tons of cargo. The plant has ground storage capacity for 400 thousand tons and covered storage capacity for 100 thousand tons. The plant has two berths totaling 476.7 meters with alongside depth of 12.2 meters.
The Port of Mobile's McDuffie Coal Terminal is the largest import terminal in the United States. Handling 18.5 million tons of cargo in 2008, it has ground capacity for 2.3 million tons and annual throughput capacity for 30 million tons. The terminal contains three berths.
The Port of Mobile's Marine Liquid Bulk Terminal at Theodore has a 335.3 meter long pier. Its ship berth on the east offers alongside depth of 12.2 meters, and its barge berth on the west offers alongside depth of 4.3 meters. In 2007, the terminal handled a total of 1.2 million tons of cargo. The Mobile Middle Bay Port at Theodore covers almost 81 hectares and includes a 182.9 meter finger pier with alongside depth of 11 meters.
The Pinto Island Terminal is the newest ASPA investment in the Port of Mobile. Expected to open in 2010, the 8.1-hectare terminal will have annual capacity for over five million tons of semi-finished steel slap. It will include about 305 meters of deep-water dock dredged to 13.7 meters, and it will be equipped with an automated barge-loading system. Each of the terminal's three cranes has an outreach of 45.7 meters and a backreach of 50.3 meters. The terminal storage yard will have capacity for 150 metric tons of cargo.
The Port of Mobile's inland docks cover a total area of 189.4 hectares. They are located at Phenix City (44.5 hectares), Tuscaloosa-Northport (27.5 hectares), Cordova (24.3 hectares), Columbia (23.9 hectares), Claiborne (21.9 hectares), Selma (15.0 hectares), Montgomery (12.9 hectares), Demopolis (6.5 hectares), Bridgeport (5.7 hectares), Eufaula (5.3 hectares), and Axis (2.0 hectares).
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