Port Of Mobile Eclipses 560,000 TEUs In 2022
The Alabama Port Authority (APA), the state agency that oversees the deepwater public port facilities at the Port of Mobile, logged another banner year for containers in 2022 with 563,191 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) handled. What’s more, the 11 percent growth in 2022 compared to 2021 marks the ninth year since 2009 that Mobile has seen double-digit growth year over year for container volumes.
Intermodal rail volumes also continued the port’s 31-month streak of record growth, with volumes surging 142 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. Vessels calling on the port’s container terminal totaled 312 in 2022, which is an increase of 75 vessels compared to 2021.
“Time and again, we are showing that shipping through Mobile is an efficient and cost-effective way for businesses to get their goods into or out of the United States,” said John Driscoll, director and CEO of the Alabama Port Authority. “These numbers reflect shippers’ confidence in Alabama’s port, and Mobile has consistently offered supply chain stability.”
The port is already working to boost container throughput capacity with its Phase IV expansion, which will grow capacity to 1 million TEUs. At the same time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of a project to deepen and widen Mobile Harbor. In addition, the Port of Mobile has new logistics facilities and a new CSX inland intermodal facility in Montgomery, Ala., in the works. Those projects are expected to come online in 2025.
The port also plans to build a flyover bridge to create on-dock rail access at its container terminal, modernize its general cargo piers and develop an intermodal facility in North Alabama.
Those investments, APA Chief Commercial Officer Beth Branch said, are driving new business and new connections to Alabama’s single gateway port.
“With proven fluidity, the Port of Mobile continues to attract new routes, creating more direct services from the Far East to Mobile and enhancing our gateway’s connection to growing global markets,” Branch said.
