THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE A L A B A M A OF THE ALABAMA STATE PORT AUTHORITY SEAPORT MARCH 20 11 Alabama Seaport PuBlishED continuOuSly since 1927 • marCh 2011 On The Cover: an aerial view of the alabama State Docks, looking south to north from the mcDuffie Coal Terminal to the Cochrane africatown Bridge. 4 12 Alabama State Port Authority P.O. Box 1588, Mobile, Alabama 36633, USA P: 251.441.7200 • F: 251.441.7216 • asdd.com Contents James K. Lyons, Director, CEO Larry R. Downs, Secretary-Treasurer/CFO recovery In 2010 Points To growth in 2011 .................................................4 FinanCial SerVICes Coalition of alabama waterways association ............................................10 Larry Downs, Secretary/Treasurer 251.441.7050 Linda K. Paaymans, Vice President 251.441.7036 Port authority Offers helping hand to restore mobile’s COmptrOllEr Pete Dranka 251.441.7057 Dog river Park Shoreline............................................................................... 12 Information TechnOlOgy Stan Hurston, manager 251.441.7017 human Resources Danny Barnett, manager 251.441.7004 In memoriam: marrion rambeau ..................................................................16 Risk managEmEnT Kevin Malpas, manager 251.441.7118 InTErnal auditor Avito DeAndrade 251.441.7210 made in alabama: heat Transfer Products group grows in alabama ...18 Marketing Port Calls: monroeville, ala. is for the Birds…The mockingbirds ........ 20 Judith Adams, Vice President 251.441.7003 Sheri Reid, manager, Public affairs 251.441.7001 Currents ............................................................................................................ 24 Pete O’Neal, manager, real Estate 251.441.7123 Of men & Ships: The raider Atlantis .......................................................27 Pat Scott, manager, Fixed assets 251.441.7113 John Goff, manager, Theodore Operations 251.443.7982 Operations Departments H.S. “Smitty” Thorne, Executive Vice President/COO 251.441.7238 Bradley N. Ojard, Vice President 251.441.8133 arrivals/Sailings .............................................................................................. 32 Glenn Reibe, Training & Quality Control manager 251.441.7156 Ron Adler, asst. general manager, Operations 251.441.7316 Postcards from the Past ...............................................................................35 Bulk OperationS Raymond Dearmon, manager 251.441.7676 Melvin Barnett, Operations Superintendent 251.441.7675 Port of mobile Directory ................................................................................36 TErmInal raIlway Mike Russell, general manager 251.441.7301 GenEral CargO/IntermODal Steamship agencies & lines ........................................................................38 OperationS John Mickler, manager P: 251.441.7235 F: 251.441.7231 CustomEr SErvice Marx Nicholson, manager 251.441.7047 Traffic/Sales Anna Ward, manager 251.441.7516 lOgISTICS Chuck Camp, manager 251.441.8179 POrT POlice Chief Jimmie Flanagan P: 251.441.7777 F: 251.441.7172 TruCk COnTrOl Lester Davidson 251.441.7098 Serving the Alabama State Port Authority as general counsel to help them stay the course. harbor master Capt. Terry Gilbreath 251.441.7074 Planning & SECurity Hal Hudgins, Vice President 251.441.7237 Engineering serVICes Jerald Kichler, P.E., Director 251.441.8975 ENVironmental & Program Management 20 Bob Harris, Director 251.441.7085 27 Trade & DEVelopment Mark I. Sheppard, Vice President 251.441.7201 An Equal Opportunity Employer • • • • birmingham mobile athens fairhope jackson, ms Todd Jones, Director Trade & Development 251.441.7144 ALABAMA SEAPORT (ISSN 1524-8259) is published monthly by the marketing department, Alabama State Port latin amErICa Sales & TraDE DevelopmEnT Maria Mendez, Director 251.441.7535 Authority. The magazine is provided free of charge upon written request from customers and friends of the Alabama www.handarendall.com State Port Authority. Material contained herein, except when copyrighted, may be reproduced in whole or in part. A credit line “Reprinted from ALABAMA SEAPORT,” will be appreciated, and it is requested that a copy of the publica- No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. tion, containing the material used, be sent to Editor, ALABAMA SEAPORT, Alabama State Port Authority, P.O. Box Contact: T. Bruce McGowin, Esq., RSA Tower, Suite 30200, 11 North Water Street, Mobile, AL 36602. 1588, Mobile, Alabama 36633 U.S.A. In 2008, the Port of Mobile saw 1.6 million tons of forest Recovery In 2010 products, but that dropped to 1.4 million in 2009, mainly due to the drop in demand for building products as the real Points To Growth In 2011 estate market plummeted. In 2010, the industry rebounded to nearly 1.8 million tons. Included in the related paper Last year marked a period of recovery for the Port of Mobile, which saw products industry is a significant portion of wood pulp from positive activity for exports of forest products, paper products, coal and Brazil, used for products like paper towels and baby diapers. steel. “We are seeing very strong, significant signs of recovery in the global Robert Bentley, governor of alabama “Contracts with big receivers for materials like these fluctuate economy and that’s reflected in a lot of our tonnage figures,” said James K. very little,” explained Thorne. Lyons, director and CEO of the Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA). “Not Alabama State Port AutHority all our business lines are back, but there are enough good, clear signs that Tim Parker Jr., Chair, Tuscaloosa Shippers looking to export paper products also benefited Term expires July 31, 2013 things are improving in general. The new steel mill is gradually ramping up from the weak dollar. Import wood pulp on the year outpaced and the attendant activity is a continued good sign. Not a great year, but David J. Cooper, Vice Chair, mobile Term expires July 31, 2013 exports by about 40,000 tons. “With consolidation among we’re headed in the right direction.” William B. Bru, 2nd Vice Chair, mobile some of our largest paper shippers and added new capacity Term expires august 2, 2014 in Latin America, we expect to see continued growth in this For the calendar year 2010, 3.63 million tons of general cargo traveled H.L. “Sonny” Callahan, Mobile market sector,” Thorne said. through the Port of Mobile, along with 19.8 million tons (bulk) of Term expires august 2, 2014 Richard Weavil, Mobile commodities and 2.3 million tons in containerized freight. Some of the There was also activity with a number of regional steel mills, larger commodity groups posting numbers, included 1.79 million tons of Term expires July 31, 2015 Mike Fields, Tuscaloosa including SSAB, ThyssenKrupp, Nucor (in Alabama) and forest products, 1.40 million tons of iron and steel, 17.08 million tons of Term expires august 2, 2014 Severstal (in Mississippi). Thorne noted shipments have coal, 1.96 million tons of chemicals, and 1.27 million tons of grain. Joseph McCarty, Birmingham increased in the past months compared to the past several Term expires July 31, 2015 years, and more shipments are anticipated in the future. Algernon Stanley, huntsville For Executive Vice President/COO Smitty Thorne, the prevailing theme ThyssenKrupp began importing slabs of steel last fall and for the year was the economy. The weak dollar’s effect was easily visible in Term expires July 31, 2015 The Honorable Sam Jones, has detailed plans to escalate its shipments. “It will be a very shipments, favoring exports and disfavoring imports. Regionally, shippers Mayor, City of Mobile (Ex-Officio) big volume for us as they continue to ramp up production exported more goods than imported. Thorne, who calls 2011 “a slow Term expires July 31, 2011 at the mill,” said Thorne. “The steel slab volume is expected rebound,”expects to see a return to earlier levels. “I look for a much better to be between four and five million tons a year when at full year for us than we’ve had since 2008,” he said. Alabama Seaport Editorial Staff capacity. That’s why we built the Pinto Terminal.” Another Judith Adams, Editor-in-Chief Maureen Smith, managing Editor port asset the steel company takes advantage of is the ability Scott Rye, Contributing Editor to barge its product downriver, then load it onto railcars to Sheri Reid, Editor-at-large support domestic shipments or onto ships for exports. Berg Steel and Spiral Pipe regularly utilize domestic rail shipments Editorial Contributors through the Port Authority’s Terminal Railway service to ship Jarrod England their products as well. Blake herndon niki lim abby rowell The Port of Mobile is also seeing plenty of steel exports, and greta Sharp to make steel, the mills need pig iron. Alabama and Mississippi maureen Smith plants handled almost half a million tons in 2008, 101,000 Scott Thornburg tons in 2009 and 326,000 tons in 2010. Thorne expects PHotograpHY to see continued growth towards 2008 numbers in 2011. keith Bonner Carol highsmith Coal saw a dip similar to forest products, with 20 million Jackson Country Economic Development authority tons in 2008, 13.7 million tons in 2009, then rebounding andy kiel to 17 million tons in 2010. “Import/export was strong in mobile Bay national Estuary Program 2008, but in 2009, the weak dollar and low natural gas monroe County heritage museum Sheri reid prices caused import steam coal to tank,” explained Thorne. alex Thigpen: Thigpen Photography “Coal’s