Advantages

Infrastructure & Accessibility

Rail Infrastructure

• The Mobile area is served by six railroads, five of them Class-I railroads, which converge at the Port of Mobile and include intermodal service for companies importing and/or exporting.
• Burlington Northern, Norfolk Southern and short-line Alabama and Gulf Railroad serve major industrial companies and the Alabama State Port Authority.
• CSX serves the Theodore Industrial Park and the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.
• Canadian National Railroad serves the western areas of Mobile and Prichard as the tracks head east toward downtown Mobile.
• Central Gulf Railroad, a rail-ship service to Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, provides shippers unparalleled service to southern Mexico and Mexico City.
• Kansas City Southern is the only Class 1 railroad to own track both inside and outside Mexico’s boundaries.

Highway Infrastructure:

• Mobile provides companies with highway transportation access to major markets across the United States. Two major interstate highways converge in Mobile, with I-10 extending east to Jacksonville, Florida and west to Los Angeles, California, while I-65 extends from Mobile north to Chicago, Illinois. Major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando, are all within 600 miles (1,000 km) of Mobile.
• There are over 65 motor freight carriers certified to transport interstate shipments to and/or from the Mobile area. The majority of the carriers have a Mobile area terminal, with many carriers offering container services.

Alabama Waterways:

• Alabama has one of the longest inland waterway systems in the nation. Alabama’s waterway corridors include: Gulf Intracoastal Waterway , Tennessee Waterway, Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and  Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway.
• Alabama’s water corridors are part of the national inland waterway system, connecting to over 15,000 miles (24,000+ km) of inland and intracoastal waterways, river ports and sea ports in 23 states via the Tennessee-Tombigbee and the Gulf Intracoastal water system.

Room to Grow

Mobile and its surrounding areas have plenty of room to grow. The Mobile area has extensive available acreage for site development, opportunities for co-location, as well as independent existing industrial sites with access to water, rail, highway, utility connections and additional facilities. To view available sites, go here.

The Port of Mobile

As the 12th largest port in the U. S., companies have immediate access to two interstate systems, five class 1 railroads and 15,000 miles of inland/intercoastal waterway connections at the Port of Mobile. Dedicated in 1928, the full-service Port features two harbors and has over 5 million square feet of warehousing and open yards.

• The upper harbor’s channel is 40 feet in draft and services Panamax ships carrying bulk, general cargo, roll-off/roll-on, heavy lift, and overseas cargo.
• The lower harbor, with a draft size of 45 feet typically services Post-Panamax ships carrying containers, steel and coal. There are 41 berths.

The Alabama State Port Authority owns and operates public terminals at the Port of Mobile. These terminals handle containerized, breakbulk, coal, grain, roll-on/roll-off, cement and oversized/heavy lift cargoes. The Port of Mobile is also represented by private bulk terminal operators as well as a number of highly specialized shipbuilding and repair companies, with two of the largest floating dry docks on the Gulf Coast.

Over the past decade, the Alabama State Port Authority has invested more than $700 million toward a capital expansion program establishing new facilities at the Port of Mobile, including a new container terminal, a new steel terminal, expansion at McDuffie coal terminal, a new rail ferry terminal, new warehouses, a new turning basin and two new “super Post-Panamax” cranes.

Port Expansion:  The Alabama State Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently signed a Mobile Harbor Pre-Construction, Engineering and Design Agreement. The engineering and design phase establishes construction parameters that will deepen the existing Bar, Bay and River Channels Bar, by 5 feet each to a depth of 50 feet (15.24m), with additional depths for wave allowances, advanced maintenance, and allowable over depth for dredging (total depths of 56, 54, and 54 feet, respectively). The project also includes widening the Bay Channel by 100 feet (328.08m) for three nautical miles to accommodate two-way vessel traffic and other safety improvements.

New Automobile Logistics Terminal:  The Alabama State Port Authority and AutoMOBILE International Terminal (AIT) recently signed a concession agreement at the Port of Mobile, USA, for a $60 million (USD), finished automobile roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) terminal currently under construction. AutoMOBILE International Terminal will operate the facility when completed in early 2021.  The new 57-acre terminal is located on the Port Authority’s main port multimodal complex, and when completed, will have an annual throughput of 150,000 units.

Accolades:  The Alabama State Port Authority and APM Terminals were recently recognized by the Journal of Commerce for productivity achievements during its annual Port Performance North America conference held December 11 in Newark, New Jersey.  The Alabama State Port Authority received Most Improved Port Performance Overall in North America for the 2017-2018 cycle. APM Terminals Mobile came in second overall for Most Improved Terminal in North America. Read more here!

Potential Industry Partners

Alabama is host to many automotive suppliers and industries, like aerospace, paper and biotech, who have synergies with chemical corporations in terms of finding ways to improve their production and processes.

Skilled Labor Base

Resources such as AIDT (Alabama’s primary workforce development agency) and increased collaboration between the state’s commercial and education communities allow businesses to receive individual attention and benefits, such as pre-employment selection and training, leadership development, on-the-job training, and assessments.

Fast Track Permitting

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) seeks to make the permitting process as quick and easy as possible. ADEM starts by working with state and local economic development officials to handle the pre-application and application process to ensure permitting is not a major sticking point for a project getting off the ground. Complex air and water permits are usually issued by ADEM within 60 days. Construction storm water permits are regularly issued within two or three days. Prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) analyses for major air permits can be completed in 120 days in most cases.