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Thursday, February 25, 2021

Port traffic: Two new companies bringing 100 jobs to Mobile - AL.com

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Two new companies promise to bring more than 100 new jobs and $30 million in capital investment to the landscape around the Port of Mobile, according to announcements Thursday from the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.

According to information released by the Chamber, Ray-Mont Logistics will develop a high-tech logistics park near the port, and Ren Seafoods will capitalize on the existence of a new cold-storage facility at the port by locating a processing and distribution center on the I-65 beltline.

The developments bear out some predictions made over the last year by Jimmy Lyons, the recently retired director of the Alabama State Port Authority, and John Driscoll, his successor.

In the summer of 2019, MTC Logistics broke ground on a new cold storage facility near the port’s growing container terminal. Lyons said at the time that it would be a game-changer, partly because it would vastly expand the port’s capacity to blast-freeze container-loads of domestic product -- such as poultry raised by Alabama farmers -- and prepare it for shipping.

More recently, Driscoll said that a cornerstone of MTC Logistics’ business model is balancing imports and exports. Imports create a local supply of specialized refrigerated shipping containers, which are then available for exports.

“Refrigerated equipment isn’t just sitting around waiting,” Driscoll said in a November interview with AL.com. “It sits in high demand throughout the world. So the MTC Logistics concept, they have the base of customers for inbound … Once that box is here, you have the supply, it’s going to be a natural gateway.”

Driscoll has also said that one of his priorities as director and CEO of the Port Authority was to help develop logistical facilities to make the most of the assets the port already had, including its rail, water and interstate connections. A dedicated logistics park would be a big step in that direction, he said.

Thursday’s news bears that out. Ray-Mont is launching the logistics park in partnership with the Alabama Export Railroad and Canadian National railroad. According to information released Thursday, Ray-Mont expects to export 20,000 TEUs’s worth of goods annually to Asia and Latin America, including plastic resins and agricultural products. A TEU is an industry measure based on the capacity of a standard 20-foot container.

The company operates facilities in Montreal, Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle. Jonathan Hebert, Ray-Mont’s vice president of finance and corporate development, said adding Mobile to that list is “good commercial strategy. There is a great chemistry between our partners and the character of the terminal, with its vast infrastructure, will help us reach international destinations.”

Ray-Mont will invest $15 million in equipment, and Alabama Export Railroad will invest another $4 million. It is expected to open in early 2022, with room eventually to expand to five times its initial capacity. It’s expected to create 50 new jobs with average annual pay of $70,000.

David Rodgers, the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of economic development, said county, state and local incentives offered on the project included a sales tax abatement estimated at $969,000 over 10 years and a property tax abatement worth $736,000 over the same span. The economic impact of the project was estimated at $21 million over 20 years, he said.

Ren Seafoods, meanwhile, plans to utilize the old Smith’s Bakery facility on the west I-65 Service Road. While this isn’t at the port, executives with Ren and MTC left no doubt about the connection to the MTC cold-storage facility that will be open for business later this year.

“We are following their path,” Ren Seafoods CEO Javier Infante said of MTC, “and its vicinity allows us to combine product deliveries to have a unique logistics operation. In addition, there is high-quality, local seafood in this region that we will be able to access for our customer base.”

“Most national seafood companies are concentrated in New England, Miami, Seattle, etc., said Infante. “We are creating a hub for seafood distribution covering the Southeast region.”

Brooks Royster, vice president of international supply chain solutions for MTC Logistics, said Ren Seafoods is the first customer to come to Mobile expressly to be near the MTC facility, but said he expects more to follow. “It is further testament to Mobile being successful as a logistics hub and able to attract new international players,” he said.

Ren Seafoods will invest $12.4 million in the site, with construction expected to begin this spring and be finished before year’s end. It’s expected to create 54 jobs.

Rogers said the project received a sales tax abatement worth $415,000 and a property tax abatement worth $711,000 over 10 years, with the project’s impact estimated at $3.3 million over 20 years.

Local officials hailed the developments.

“To have MTC Logistics partner with this new seafood facility expands our growing footprint as a logistics hub and provides much needed support for an industry still rebounding from the Deepwater Horizon event,” said Mobile County Commission President Merceria Ludgood.

“This announcement is a huge step for the future growth of container traffic in Mobile,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said of the Ray-Mont project. “This logistics hub will put previously vacant property into production to create jobs, add product diversity, and turn the intermodal flywheel at the Port of Mobile.”

“Ray-Mont’s new investment positions Alabama’s seaport into the fast growth resin market, while providing shippers a near-port gateway equipped with new ocean carriage services into key export markets” said Driscoll.

Rodgers said the Ray-Mont logistics park is “an example of how Mobile is a growing destination for distribution operations.” The Ren Seafoods project, he said, “further cements Mobile as a prime location for logistics and warehousing.”

Rodgers said other major developments that have paved the way for projects such as those announced on Thursday. The creation and ongoing expansion of a container terminal operated by APM Terminals made the area much more appealing as a site for distribution hubs, he said, and Walmart’s decision to locate a massive distribution hub west of the city has served as a stamp of approval for other companies.

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Port traffic: Two new companies bringing 100 jobs to Mobile - AL.com
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