In 1519, just 27 years after Christopher Columbus discovered the New World by landing on islands in the Caribbean, the Spanish explorer Admiral Alvarez de Pineda sailed into what we now call Mobile Bay. A city that would grow into Alabama's second largest city was founded by French explorers under the leadership of Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1702. The original settlement was up river on the 27-Mile Bluff. The settlers later moved to the present site of Mobile at the mouth of the river and the head of the bay. There are many reasons for the shift south. The move facilitated commerce and communication with the Old World and the city flourished at this site. There has been commerce in and out of the Port of Mobile since the early part of the 17th Century. It was not until 1826 that the U.S. Congress authorized money for the development of a navigable channel in Mobile Bay. 

Sea Channel is 45 Feet Deep

The current  navigation channel maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides safe navigational depth of 45 feet from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Mobile River. The 45-foot channel serves McDuffie Terminals located at the mouth of the river. The channel then becomes 40 foot deep and proceeds north to the Cochrane/Africatown Bridge passing over the Bankhead and Wallace tunnels. The Mobile River, on which the Alabama State Docks facilities are located, is formed some 45 miles north of the city with the joining of the Alabama and Black Warrior/Tombigbee Rivers. The Mobile River also serves as the gateway to international commerce for the Tennessee/Tombigbee Waterway. In the southern edge of Mobile Bay, access is gained to the Intercoastal Waterway as it makes its way from St. Marks, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas.

When Cotton was King

Beginning with the expansion of the cotton trade in the 1800's, the Port of Mobile has been a major participant in America's waterborne commerce and has contributed to the region's and the nation's economic well being. For the first two hundred years of its existence, the Port of Mobile did not have a central organization to guide the development and operation of the port. In 1920, the Alabama Legislature submitted a constitutional amendment to the people to develop Alabama's seaport with state financial assistance. The amendment was passed in 1922 under Governor Thomas E. Kilby, and the State Docks Commission was established with power to build, operate and maintain wharves, piers, docks, quays, grain elevators, cotton compresses, warehouses and other water and rail terminals, structures and facilities.
      The commission members sought out the best engineering and maritime construction people available. It chose retired Major General William L. Sibert (believed to be man third from left), who had recently retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after completing the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, to come back to his native Alabama and build the nucleus of today's Alabama State Docks. Sibert took 548 acres of swampland and marsh and converted them into one of America's finest seaport facilities with the original investment from the State of Alabama being just $10 million. Since that time, the Department has been operating as a self-supporting enterprise agency of the Executive branch of state government.

      With construction underway, Alabama State Docks received its first cargo ship in May of 1927. The Edgar F. Luckenbach called at the Docks and off-loaded 750 tons of sugar. Just over a year later, on June 25, 1928, the official dedication of the State Docks was held. Sibert welcomed Governor Bibb Graves, U.S. Congressman John McDuffie, U.S. Senator Hugo Black and other dignitaries, including the Assistant Chief of the United States Department of Transportation and the President of the L&N Railroad. At the ceremonies, Governor Graves said, "We are here opening Alabama's door to the world; not for our benefit alone, but for the benefit of all mankind."
      

Bringing Dollars to Alabama

      About 375 employees operate, maintain and market these facilities. In 1999, the Port of Mobile was the 14th  largest port in the nation in total tonnage, ahead of other well known ports such as Tampa, Seattle, Charleston and Savannah. The economic impact to our state was over $3 billion statewide. Tax payments of $467 million were made from activities in the International Trade sector. And most importantly, the Alabama State Docks supports  the jobs  of more than 118,000 Alabamians.