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Facility Expansion: Alabama, Port Manatee

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Alabama APM Terminals to Double Cranes at Mobile and Expand Container Facility

APM Terminals Mobile will add two new super-Post Panamax STS cranes and enlarge the container yard by 20 acres as part of a $40 million infrastructure investment to expand the terminal’s capacity. APM Terminals Mobile has a current annual throughput capacity of 350,000 TEUs with two Post-Panamax cranes now in service.

APM Terminals partnered with the Alabama State Port Authority in 2005 to construct Phase I of the container terminal at Choctaw Point in the Port of Mobile. Under the concession agreement, APM Terminals operates the terminal, which opened in 2008 (Advisory, November 10, 2008).

"We are very pleased to proceed with increasing our capacity and productivity for the businesses and shipping lines that have made this port a new market leader. Mobile is a great place to be, and we look forward to growing the terminal as the Gulf Coast’s gateway to the South Atlantic," said APM Terminals’ Chief Operating Officer, Jeff De Best. 

The company says that the additional cranes and acreage will enable the facility to accommodate both increased business from shipping lines serving Alabama’s growing industrial base, as well as the larger vessels it expects will be calling U.S. Gulf ports following the opening of the expanded Panama Canal locks. With a 45-foot/13.7 meter depth, APM Terminals Mobile is already handling vessels of up to 8,400 TEU capacity. The larger canal locks will allow transit of vessels of up to 12,600 TEU capacity.

The port authority has begun construction of an Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) that will connect the Port of Mobile and the APM Terminals facility with rail service to markets in the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. Mobile is accessed by five Class 1 railroads including CN Railways, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Kansas City Southern and BNSF. The ICTF is scheduled to become operational in early 2016. 

The European-based Airbus consortium is completing construction of a $600 million final assembly line for the A320 aircraft within four miles of the APM Terminals Mobile facility. Major shipments of materials and equipment for the aircraft will come through the Port of Mobile with the first major shipment scheduled to arrive at APM Terminals this month. Other local growing industries include automobile manufacturing, with over one and a half million cars produced annually within four hours of the port, as well as steel and exports of poultry and forest products. 

Annual throughput at APM Terminals Mobile will grow to 475,000 TEUs at the completion of this phase of expansion. The facility has future expansion capabilities to grow its annual throughput capacity to more than 1.3 million TEUs.

"Given our continued growth since the container terminal’s opening in 2008, the timing of this expansion is excellent given more and more shippers and carriers are finding Mobile a cost effective, customer service-oriented option," said Port Authority Chief Executive James K. Lyons.

APM Terminals Mobile with MSC Texas at berth.
Photo/Alabama State Ports Authority


Port Manatee Inks Pact for Cargo Pad with Gulf Coast Bulk Equipment Inc. 

Port Manatee is adding a 2-acre cargo pad to support storage of prilled sulphur, a new commodity for the Florida Gulf Coast port.

Under an agreement signed June 16 with Gulf Coast Bulk Equipment Inc., construction of the pad is slated to begin in September on the east side of Port Manatee.

The Palmetto (FL)-based stevedoring and marine terminal operations firm has been a Port Manatee tenant since 2008, handling fertilizers, salt, potash and other bulk cargos.

Prilled sulphur is a solid, spherically shaped commodity that can be used in the manufacture of fertilizers, plant protection products and sulfuric acid, as well as in the steel industry.

"This new pad will be the perfect location for storage of special commodities such as prilled sulphur," said Richard Tager, Gulf Coast Bulk Equipment’s president. "We are looking forward to this partnership, which will help us grow our business and enable us to best serve our customers." 

Port Manatee’s executive director, Carlos Buqueras, commented, "We are excited about this project as it brings new business and new jobs to the port and the region. The shipments of this new commodity prove the capabilities of Port Manatee and exemplify the diversification strategy we are advancing."
 

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