Alabama port expands with $300M container terminal

The expansion of the Panama Canal by 2014 will allow much larger ships to call on Gulf of Mexico ports, Mobile shipping officials said Thursday at the harbors new $300 million container terminal.

While the 135-acre terminal has begun operations, port officials said a turning basin in the ship channel was needed to fully handle the large ships that will be able to pass through the canal in several years.

The Panama Canal expansion will bring vessels twice as large as those now being serviced at Mobile, the nations 10th largest port, with new ocean commerce expected to come from Asia, Port Authority Chief Executive Jimmy Lyons said at a news conference.

"Weve never had this type of access to the rest of the world," said Alabama Gov. Bob Riley.

Lyons said the terminal, which currently employs 300, could create more than 1,300 jobs when fully operating, and its expected to generate spillover businesses, including large warehouses and trucking.

Five vessels have docked at the terminal to unload or receive container cargo since October, with a sixth arriving for servicing Thursday night.

The railcar-size metal containers are being stacked on the 135-acre site operated and managed by APM Terminals North America, Inc. of Portsmouth, Va. APMs partner in the project is CMA CGM, based in France.

The terminal includes a rail facility, but company and port officials said the long-term success of Mobile Container Terminal depends on dredging a turning basin for the bigger ships to maneuver into the 2,000-foot-long wharf.

The turning basin in the 45-foot-deep ship channel is a $27 million project awaiting federal funding, officials said.

U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., said the states congressional delegation has fought for dredging funds from the Army Corps of Engineers and will continue that effort when President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

Tugs already help steer vessels to the wharf, but the ships would have more room with a turning basin and docking time would be almost cut in half.

CMA CGM President Frank J. Baragona of Norfolk, Va., said the need for the turning basin is critical as larger ships arrive because of safety concerns in docking.

American Association of Port Authorities spokesman Aaron Ellis describes the Panama Canal expansion as "one of the leading industry events of our lifetime."

He said a third set of locks on the Canal will allow the largest ships in the world to get through them, and that other port cities are expanding container operations to prepare for them.

APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer said the company chose Mobile for the terminal to take advantage of the Panama Canal expansion, and the current global financial crisis hasnt altered those plans.

"No doubt the current situation is severe," Fejfer said. But the "fundamentals in this industry are good" and he expects it will rebound.

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