Posted on August 22, 2017
Birmingham-Jefferson County Port Authority and Watco have launched plans to make Port Birmingham in Alabama into a worldwide centre for imports and exports, local news website AL.com has reported.
City and county officials recently put up $675,000 to develop the inland port so that it could entice industries to use it for imports and exports.
Moreover, officials are making applications for federal grants in order to be able to upgrade the port’s facilities and construct warehouses and container storage.
The facility, despite once processing 12m-14m tons of goods annually, is currently running at 5% capacity.
Commenting on Port Birmingham, KR McKenzie, commercial manager for Watco in Birmingham, told AL.com: “This is the most unique transportation asset in the American southeast.
“There are very few places where you have barge, railroad connectivity to three Class 1 railroads, and superior access to the American highway system.”
Watco is also working to ensure that the goods transported through the facility are more diverse.
Port Birmingham, which is positioned 22 miles west of downtown Birmingham in Alabama, links to the Gulf of Mexico and the Port of Mobile by means of the Black Warrior River.
It also offers access to the CSX, Norfolk Southern and BNSF railways using the Watco-owned Birmingham Terminal Railway, as well as having direct truck access to Birmingham’s six-spoke interstate network.
The port, which is 182 acres, currently handles steel coils, steel plates, coal, coke, chemicals and building materials for customers all over the world.
Source: portstrategy
