Port Of Birmingham Connects Central Alabama To The Gulf

Whether you call it the Birmingham-Jefferson County Port Authority (BJCPA), the Port of Birmingham or simply Birmingport, there’s no denying the importance of the largest Alabama inland port that feeds into the Port of Mobile.

Founded in 1920, Birmingport is located on the Locust Fork branch of the Black Warrior River, about 400 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. It’s located within Jefferson County, which is Alabama’s most populous county and geographically the state’s fifth largest county. Just 20 minutes from multiple interstates and 25 minutes from the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, the port also has direct connections to the Port of Mobile and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

“The strategic location is integral,” BJCPA executive director David Russell Jr. said. “The waterway controls so much that goes in and out of Jefferson County and provides the important transport of raw materials.”

Brought under the umbrella of city and county government in 2016, the BJCPA offers assistance in the area of bonds, land acquisitions and incentive capabilities to assist in economic development for port users.

With five operating terminals, the port is instrumental in the transport of raw materials in and out of Jefferson County and primarily serves the steel and road construction industries.

“We understand how important this is to the economic development of our area,” Russell said. “We want to advance economic development on the waterway or on joint property along the waterway or connected by railway.”

Birmingport’s Terminals

The port is composed of five terminals: Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions Inc., Lynn Port, Miller & Company, Parker Towing’s Birmingham Marine Terminal and Watco. Ergon’s Birmingport Terminal covers 11 acres; Lynn Port Terminal is a barge terminal located in Mulga; and Miller & Company processes carbon and SiC grain products, also in Mulga.

The two largest terminals within Birmingport are Parker Towing’s Birmingham Marine Terminal and Watco’s Port Birmingham Terminal.

According to Cody Gilliland, sales director for Watco, the company’s presence in Birmingport is vital in the movement of coal and steel. The terminal comprises 182 acres with access to three class-one rails (BNSF, CSX and NS) via the Birmingham Terminal Railway (BHRR). It stands out as the only rail-served port in central Alabama and has the only heavy-lift crane in the northern part of the state.

“The really interesting thing is that the BNSF allows for single-line rail transportation all the way from Los Angeles to New York City,” Gilliland said. “It can hit the east and west coast.”

The Watco terminal specializes in bulk, breakbulk and liquid commodities, including coal; steel coils and slabs; dimensional, structural and project cargo; bulk aggregates, including synthetic gypsum; scrap and pig iron; and liquids such as ferric sulfates and sodium hydroxide. The terminal features include unit train capacity, 144 railcar spots, five barge docks and barge and railcar cleaning.

Gilliland, who grew up just miles from the terminal, said Watco’s most important feature is its workforce.

“We have very low turnover and great management,” he said. “We have veteran workers from U.S. Steel from when we bought that property, and we want to continue to improve and increase job opportunities in central Alabama.”

The Watco terminal employs around 30 team members, with its Birmingham terminal railway employing another 100.

According to Gilliland, relationships with the Birmingham Jefferson County Port Authority, as well as with other terminal operators, are essential to Watco’s success.

“We look to expand in our partnerships with the port authority, and we see it as a fruitful relationship,” he said. “The asset we own is very important to the city of Birmingham. They’ve been very willing, and we see it as a really good relationship.”

Watco’s relationships with other terminals are important to everyone involved. By working in connection, they can improve the efficiency and productivity of work on the waterway.

“We work on our own, but we often work with Parker,” he said. “We help them when they need it, and they help us when we need it. Our relationship with Parker is not competitive at all.”

Past And Future

Birmingport has been active since 1920 with funding from local, state and federal groups. In 1930, Tennessee Coal and Iron (TCI) began operations through the port. In 1967, U.S. Steel began port operations, and in 1986 it was annexed into the city of Birmingham.

That past is still tied into the success of Birmingport and its vision for the future.

The city of Birmingham was once known as the “Steel City,” serving as one of the country’s largest iron and steel producers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the city’s most notable symbols is a statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the iron forge. The statue is a visible part of the city’s skyline.

While that industry began to lag as years went by, the city and county are still integral to the state’s economy, as is the waterway and connected rail transportation.

In its heyday in the 1990s, the port moved between 12 million and 14 million tons of cargoes annually. Today, the port authority is looking to foster further growth. Harris sees the port and its terminals as an opportunity to build upon Birmingham’s industrial past.

“We have the infrastructure to be able to redevelop areas again,” he said. “We’re already there. We just have to reactivate and update, reimagine and grow.”

He pointed out that the port is responsible for approximately 1,500 jobs, and he strives to build relationships with terminal personnel to increase those opportunities.

One such project is a new, 25,000-square-foot warehouse at the Watco terminal that is designed to accommodate cold rolled steel coils for its logistic operations. The warehouse, which is slated for completion in 2025, was made possible through the work between the port authority and terminals.

Russel said the warehouse will make the port even more competitive than it already is.

“We’re losing a lot of leakage from raw materials that are going to our neighboring states,” he said. “However, we will have the facilities where it can stay here locally and create those jobs.”

Gilliland agreed that the new facility will be a great addition to their work.

“That warehouse is our No. 1 new project for the foreseeable future,” he said, “but we hope to have some other things coming with the help of grants through the port authority.”

The warehouse is an example of the port’s economic importance to Jefferson County and the Birmingham metro area. It currently has an economic impact of $128 million, and the warehouse is expected to add $18 million.

Harris said the job of BJCPA’s five-member board is to find ways to help the waterways and the terminals there.

“We want to help companies with municipal services and remove obstacles that make barriers,” Harris said. “We don’t want to come in and tell them what to do. We want to help them along the way and work together. The question is always, ‘What can we do to help them grow?’”