The Journal of Commerce Staff | Feb 28, 2009 3:36PM EST
Construction is underway on Alabama State Port Authority's intermodal container transfer facility.
The facility will cost $75 million and take three years to complete, according to estimates from ASPA. The ICTF will connect an existing marine terminal with up to five class 1 railroads and extend the geographical reach of a container terminal at the Port's Choctaw Point project. Preliminary site work has begun, and officials estimate it will be completed by June.
"Mobile Container Terminal, which was the first part of the project, is rapidly growing," said Jimmy Lyons, Director and CEO of the Alabama State Port Authority. "We have three services at MCT now and expect to add more. The intermodal container transfer facility will add much-needed infrastructure to reduce the number of trucks on our highways eliminating both congestion and emissions. We are actively putting together financing plans for both the transfer facility and the logistics park."
Funding for ICTF will be provided by ASPA, the Federal Department of Transportation and private sector sources.
Planned since 2001, the Choctaw Point project consists of three elements: a marine container terminal, an intermodal container transfer facility and a logistics park on parcels of adjacent land. The container terminal became operational in its first phase on Oct. 1, 2008.