Mobile, Alabama Attracts Parade of Steel & Industrial Plant Construction

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). The Port of Mobile, Alabama, operated by the Alabama State Port Authority is busy. And the steady flow of construction and expansion activities at the port mirrors industrial construction activity that has taken place in the Mobile area during the past five years. That trend is not slowing down, in fact its seems to be accelerating as a number of companies have announced plans to locate grassroot industrial plants in the area and the port is keeping in step by adding terminaling facilities to accommodate them. Industrial Info is tracking more than $15 billion in planned industrial project construction scheduled to get underway in 2007 or beyond in the state of Alabama.

Waterway access is one of the main attractions to Mobile. Companies need to get raw materials and finished goods in and out efficiently and economically, and the Alabama State Port Authority offers access to ocean going vessels with connections to inland barge waterways, the Mobile River and the Tennessee/Tombigbee Rivers.

The big story this year, is the announcement by ThyssenKrupp that it will construct a $3.7 billion steel mill complex 30 miles upstream of Mobile on the Tombigbee River on 3,500 acres in vicinity of Mont Vernon, Alabama. ThyssenKrupp envisions importing steel slabs from a sister plant (currently under construction in Brazil) to a new, as yet to be constructed, terminal that the Alabama State Port Authority will build on Pinto Island. The new $115 million terminal will receive up to 25,000 tons per day of steel slabs. The new steel terminal represents only one of a number of terminal expansion construction projects currently underway by the Alabama State Port Authority. ThyssenKrupp is targeting to supply automotive steel to a number of automotive manufacturers in the South, including Hyundai, Mercedes and Toyota. Hyundai began construction recently on a new engine manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama.

At least three steel companies in addition to ThyssenKrupp are looking at constructing new steel pipe mills or foundries in the Mobile area. EADS North America (Arlington, Virginia) has started construction on a $600 million aerial refueling aircraft manufacturing plant in Mobile.

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