Port, city and business officials turned out Wednesday for the grand opening of MTC Logistics’ $61 million refrigerated cargo facility in Mobile.
The facility offers 12.6 million cubic feet of refrigerated space with more than 40,000 pallet positions for items such as seafood, meat and vegetables. It stands on property between APM Terminals on the waterfront and the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, on land previously owned by the Alabama State Port Authority.
The cargo facility can accept product coming into Alabama through the Port of Mobile and can quick-freeze Alabama exports — especially poultry, one of the state’s largest agricultural exports.
Baltimore-based MTC broke ground on the project in 2019, creating one of the largest distribution centers of its kind in the Southeast.
“The expansion to Mobile is helping MTC serve a valued long-term customer who needed a port location to service their Southeastern customers. Mobile’s ‘find a yes’ attitude, which pervades local government and its business community, fits well with MTC’s service-oriented culture,” said Harry Halpert, who is chairman of MTC Logistics and CEO of Hoffberger Holdings Inc.
Andy Janson, president of MTC, added that the facility’s opening comes at an opportune time.
“The supply chain, and more importantly the ‘perishable food supply chain’ is front page news these days and our timing to develop an ‘out of the box’ solution for this sector of the nation’s food supply chain in partnership with the Mobile community is very rewarding. Our optimism is so strong at this point we are already in discussion about a significant expansion, which will only add additional jobs and opportunities in this wonderful community,” said Janson.
Ernie Ferguson, MTC vice president of sales, said the new facility is already generating good response. For example, Ren Seafoods has announced plans for a seafood processing plant in Mobile, a location chosen to be close to MTC.
“The positive response from our targeted customer base has exceeded our expectations,” Ferguson said. “Mobile has long needed a near-container-terminal cold storage focused on both import and export cargos. We are gratified to see this project come to fruition and for MTC Logistics to be a part of the Port of Mobile’s growth both now and years to come.”
Port director and CEO John Driscoll added, “Investments in our container intermodal terminals coupled with APM Terminals experienced and service-oriented operations helped attract to our port one of North America’s top refrigerated warehousing and logistics providers. MTC Logistics cold cargo facility and portfolio of supply chain solutions add new capacity and shipping efficiencies to the refrigerated cargo markets we serve. We look forward to their continued success.”
In addition to the Alabama State Port Authority, project partners include APM Terminals, City of Mobile, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Mobile County and the State of Alabama.
