The Port of Mobile has seen the second-most growth among U.S. ports since 2013, more than doubling its trade volume with a 124.84% increase in the past decade.
Details, culled from U.S. census figures, are reported in a feature article by Ken Roberts in Forbes.
Mobile ranked behind only the Port of Corpus Christi, also on the Gulf Coast, among all seaport, airport and border crossings. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport ranked third and fourth at 103.49% and 99.65% growth respectively.
“From Mobile to Huntsville, Alabama’s economy is booming, and the Port is proud to be a key player in this growth,” said Port Authority Director and CEO John Driscoll. “With over $1 billion in capital investments planned over the next 10 years and the benefits of major projects such as the deepening and widening of the ship channel yet to be realized, the sky is the limit for what the Port and the State of Alabama will accomplish in the coming years.”
Roberts lists the Port of Mobile as 42nd in overall trade, among the three types of ports. He also lists Mobile’s top trade partner as China.
For the state as a whole, Germany and Canada top China as trade partners, according to statistics compiled by the Alabama Department of Commerce.
The Forbes article lists four billion-dollar import categories at Mobile’s port — oil, motor vehicle parts, aircraft parts, plus two categories of steel.
Transportation equipment is the state’s top export, according to Commerce figures, topping $11 billion of the state’s total $25 billion. The state is home to four major auto plants, an automotive engine plant, plants producing heavy-duty trucks, buses and trains, and is home to the only Airbus final assembly lines in the U.S.
