In a message delivered to a group of state leaders touring the Port of Mobile recently, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby detailed the importance of expanding Alabama’s only deep-water port, Yellowhammer News reports.
“The deepening and the widening of the Port of Mobile is a once-in-a-lifetime economic development opportunity,” Senator Shelby said. “This project has the ability to transform Mobile and our state’s economy for the next one hundred years.”
Shelby emphasized that the Port of Mobile “ is one of the nation’s fastest growing container seaports ” with a statewide economic impact of over $22 billion a year.
“My goal is to increase the depth and the width of the harbor channel allowing for larger vessels and more goods to be shipped and sold,” Shelby added.
According to Yellowhammer, he was sure to also point out the work he has done to lay the groundwork for the project, citing the legislation he enacted to increase the federal government’s share of the funding from 50 percent to 75 percent.
While noting the expansion of the port was of “great importance” to him, Shelby conveyed that the benefits would take hold throughout Alabama.