Mobile, AL – Shipping officials say the expansion of the Panama Canal by 2014 will allow much larger ships to call on Gulf of Mexico ports, including Mobile where a new container terminal is operating.
Five vessels have docked at the terminal for loading or unloading since October with the sixth being handled Thursday night. Railcar-size metal containers already are being stacked on the 135-acre site operated and managed by APM Terminals North America, Inc. of Portsmouth, Va. APM's partner in the project is CMA CGM, based in France.
The $300 million investment in Alabama Port Authority property includes a rail facility.
However, 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-feet-long wharf. Officials say the turning basin in the 45-feet-deep ship channel is a $27 million project awaiting federal funding.
American Association of Port Authorities spokesman Aaron Ellis describes the Panama Canal expansion as ``one of the leading industry events of our lifetime.''
He says third set of locks on Canal will allow the largest ships in the world to get through them. He says Mobile isn't the only port to plan for it by expanding container operations.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)