Terminal for lease

The qualified company would lease the facility, perform day-to-day operations, handle staffing and maintain the equipment. The terminal already has a standing commitment to transfer from ship to barge inbound steel slabs for the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (TK) plant set to open in north Mobile County in early 2010. About 80% of the facility’s storage space will be used by TK, but the rest is open for public use.

The Pinto Terminal is specially designed to handle steel using three cranes equipped with electro-permanent magnets. The cranes can also handle electro-hydraulic buckets or grapples. The cranes are designed to transfer cargo from ships onto barges which sit in a dockside slip and are moved using an automated pulley system. The dock water depth is 45 feet (13.7 m), allowing larger vessels to be accommodated at the Pinto Terminal.

Companies interested in responding will have to submit, among other things, a plan for hiring employees, operating and maintaining the terminal, as well as financial statements demonstrating their ability to take on the project. Representatives have to schedule a site visit and submit their documents by December 14, 2009. A decision will be made by the end of the year.