|
Rail
Ferry Project Okayed; Announced by Governor
Alabama
Governor
Don Siegelman and Alabama State Docks Director/CEO, James K.
Lyons, The
new weekly United States–Mexico service will be operated by
Central Gulf Railway, Inc., and International Shipholding
Corporation of New Orleans. It
will be provided by two 585 foot long, 22,000 dwt. vessels each
with a capacity of up to 50 railcars and 100 containers.
To accommodate the new service,
the Alabama State Docks will build a specialized terminal at its
Choctaw Point
property on the Mobile River. The
terminal will be
built in a public/private partnership between the port and
International Shipholding Corporation. Partial funding will come
from a federal grant of almost $600,000 provided by the Department
of Commerce.
International Shipholding Corporation, a Fortune Top 50
company, is engaged through its subsidiaries and associates in
various types of waterborne freight transportation, including
ocean carriage, domestic coastwise services, inland vessel and
barge transportation. International
Shipholding Corporation’s ocean fleet includes 33 modern
vessels.
James K. Lyons, director and chief executive officer at Alabama
State Docks, praised the new venture and the partnership with
International Shipholding Corporation. “This fits nicely with
our program of improving trading ties with Latin, Central and
South America. This is a quick across-the-Gulf access to the
growing market in Mexico and it will make movements more
competitive and easier through a single bill of lading. Shippers
on the four major railroads that service the Docks can ship into
Mexico and be able to have excellent service. Mobile has the
service of CSX Transportation; Burlington Northern/Santa Fe;
Canadian National/Illinois Central and Norfolk Southern. This
routing from Mexico will offer customers throughout the United
States a new advantage of improved service with competitive rates.
“In Mexico, the service will connect with Ferrosur Railroad,
which serves Mexico City and other points in Southern Mexico. It
is always exciting to know that shippers in our state can move
products to the largest city in the world. I believe this can be a
great starting point to our North/South connection for
business.”
This public/private partnership was approved at the first
Alabama State Port Authority meeting in August. The board
unanimously granted Lyons authority to seek the business.
Lyons pointed out that Choctaw Point is the site of the
proposed major intermodal terminal that would increase cargo
moving through the port. He said, “This is the first installment
of that project.”
Please click here
to download the photo above. For
more information, please contact Sheri Reid at 334-441-7001 or sreid@asdd.com.
|
