Mobile's 'gold mine':
Choctaw Point to change Birmingham shipping with containers
Birmingham Business Journal
March 26, 2004
Two years from now, the Port of Mobile expects to open a new $238 million
containerized facility that stands to revolutionize the way Birmingham
manufacturers and distributors ship and receive products overseas.
The Choctaw Point terminals and intermodal facility will increase the port's
capacity for 20-foot containers from 60,000 annually to 600,000, easily
eclipsing the 460,000-container capacity at the Port of New Orleans. Last
year, Mobile handled a mere 23,960 containers.
Birmingham companies that now must use New Orleans, or larger container
terminals in Charleston, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla., will
have a viable alternative in their own back yard, saving transit time and
handling costs.
This aspect of shipping consists of loading a diverse array of products
ranging from automotive transmissions and engines, chicken, apparel, window
screens - most any food item or manufactured product that can fit into
20-foot or 40-foot-long containers 8 feet wide and 8 feet deep. Containers
are lifted by crane off or on a flatbed tractor-trailer truck for highway
transit, or to a railcar. The ease of off/onloading reduces freight-handling
costs while at the same time making it quicker.
Containerized shipping accounts for more than 90 percent of the world's
cargo traffic.
