Posted on October 29, 2025
Port officials have announced plans for yet another expansion to Mobile’s container terminal, capitalizing on a recently completed project to widen and deepen the Mobile Ship Channel.
The Alabama Port Authority and APM Terminals Mobile have agreed to proceed with construction of a new 1,300-foot container berth. This will allow the terminal to simultaneously handle three ships in the class known as Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs).
According to Tuesday’s announcement, the project will cost $131 million, which will come from federal appropriations to the Port Authority and private investments from APM Terminals, an independent division of international shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk.
The newly announced expansion is Phase V of a long-running plan to expand the container terminal’s capacity. Components in the works include a 33-acre container yard expansion, a rail capacity upgrade, and construction of a new rail flyover bridge that will enable direct on-dock rail access.
Two container ships are docked at APM Terminals Mobile, south of downtown Mobile. (Nick Souza Photography image courtesy of APM Terminals)Courtesy of APM Terminals
“This new berth is a strategic next step in making sure Mobile stays ahead of the growth curve,” said Brian Harold, Managing Director of APM Terminals Mobile. “As cargo volumes grow, we’re committed to scaling further in full partnership with the Port Authority and our customers.”
It wasn’t that long ago that the terminal had just two container cranes. Two more were added in the summer of 2017 during Phase II expansion work; port officials said they were classed as “Super Post-Panamax” units and could handle the biggest container ships in the world. Phase III included a extension of the docks that allowed the terminal to handle two 1,000-foot-long ships at the same time.
In 2021, the terminal’s volume topped half a million TEUs, or standard container units, for the first time. In summer 2022 John Driscoll, then the director and CEO of the Port Authority, said that Phase IV work would raise the terminal’s capacity to about a million TEUs per year. In summer 2024 another two mammoth blue cranes were added, for a total of six.
In mid-October, the completion of a long-running project to widen the ship channel and deepen it to 50 feet was celebrated by a waterfront gathering of state, federal and local officials. Backers have said the channel gives Mobile a competitive edge over other ports on the Gulf Coast.
Stacked containers form giant rows at APM Terminals Mobile in October 2025.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
Construction of the new berth will begin in 2026 with a two-year timetable and will include the addition of a seventh ship-to-shore crane. According to information released Tuesday, the increased berth capacity, along with increased storage yard acreage, will increase the terminal’s capacity to 1.4 million TEUs.
“This expansion is about more than infrastructure — it’s about cementing Mobile’s position as the Gulf’s premier container gateway,” said Doug Otto, Interim CEO and Director of the Alabama Port Authority. “With the channel deepening complete, a new berth underway, the Phase IV expansion in progress, and APM Terminals’ continued partnership, we’re connecting businesses across Alabama — and across the nation — to global markets faster and more efficiently than ever before.”
According to Tuesday’s announcement, the new berth will be at the south end of the terminal. It will be “adjacent to 25 acres of land that could be developed in the future for container handling, value-added logistics, or storage needs.”
