A brand new container terminal opened for business at the Port of Mobile on September 22, barely two years after groundbreaking took place in October 2006. The first vessel to arrive at the new facility was the 3,029 teu Zim Canada on October 2.

Mobile’s new box terminal opens for business

The facility is owned by the Alabama State Port Authority and is operated by Mobile Container Terminal LLC, a joint venture between APM Terminals North America (80%), a holding of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, and Terminal Link (20%), a division of CMA CGM.

The terminal occupies 135 acres, is served by a 2,000 ft wharf and has an annual throughput capacity of 800,000 teu. Draught alongside is 45 ft at mean low water, and steaming time from the sea buoy is three hours. The terminal is adjacent to the I-10 highway and five miles from I-65, and is accessible to five Class 1 railroads. It is served by two ship-to-shore container gantry cranes as well as reachstackers, forklifts and other support equipment.

The new terminal comes on line at a time of burgeoning growth for the Alabama seaport’s container trade, which last year soared to a record 118,699 teu, from 80,051 in 2006 and 26,302 in 2005.