The port's most impressive growth continues to be its intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF). With a 118.6 per cent increase from the same period last year. In the first six months of this year, dry and refrigerated cargo moves grew at a rate of 8.7 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.

The total number of containers handled at the Port of Mobile through June clocked in at 263,562 TEU, keeping pace with its projections to again surpass 500,000 TEU in 2022.

"The Port of Mobile is uncongested, fluid and continuously investing to ensure we maintain and increase the rate of growth we have experienced so far this year," said port director and CEO John Driscoll.

The terminal is run by Maersk's global port operator APM Terminals (APMT). With an average truck turn times of 51 minutes for a dual move, shippers are actively shifting their supply chains to Mobile, the port claims.

"APM Terminals has been an incredible partner for the port authority, and we are thrilled to have recently announced our third expansion in six years which will nearly double the terminal's throughput capacity to one million TEU per year by 2025," said chief commercial officer Beth Branch.

Another key project coming online in 2025 is the deepening and widening of the ship channel, which has been fully funded by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Alabama.

Once complete, the 50-foot draft federal channel will make the Port of Mobile the deepest port in the Gulf of Mexico and allow neo-panamax sized vessels up to 14,000 TEU to fully load, further increasing capacity and attracting shippers.

The port authority's container, general cargo and bulk facilities have immediate access to two interstate highway systems, five Class I railways, nearly 15,000 miles of inland waterways and air cargo connections.