Alabama State Port Authority Pinto Terminal Receives Top Honor Recipient of AAPA's 2011 Facilities Engineering Award

Mobile, Ala., July 5, 2011 – The Alabama State Port Authority has been awarded the American Association of Port Authorities’ top honor in engineering for innovation and handling technology deployed at the Authority’s Pinto Terminal. The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) represents seaports throughout the Western Hemisphere and will present recognition awards in September at the association’s 2011 Annual Convention to be held in Seattle, Wash.

“The Alabama State Port Authority is very honored by this award,” said Jimmy Lyons, director and chief executive for the Port Authority. “We have an excellent team of engineers and operations managers who developed a terminal concept designed to reduce handling and costs associated with transitioning steel slab from ocean-going vessels to barges. It is good to receive recognition from our peers on these achievements.”

The Alabama State Port Authority’s Pinto Terminal at the Port of Mobile was designed to reduce handling and costs associated with transitioning steel slab from ocean-going vessels to barges for transport to ThyssenKrupp Steel USA LLC’s mill located 43 miles north of the terminal on the Tombigbee River. “Optimizing technology and reducing operating expenses were the primary objectives for this terminal and a driving factor in recruiting a major industry to our region,” said Lyons. Innovations at Pinto Terminal can be seen on the Pinto Terminal Video at www.asdd.com.

The resulting terminal layout consists of a 45-foot-draft, 1,050-foot-long ship berth, a slab storage yard, and barge handling slip positioned between the ship’s berth and shore-side storage yard. The three post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes measure 200 feet high in operating position with a rail gauge (spread between the crane’s legs) of 120 feet. Each crane’s boom has an outreach of 150 feet and a back reach of 165 feet. The cranes carry a 78 metric ton maximum capacity and are equipped with magnet lift devices capable of lifting steel slabs weighing up to 36 metric tons. These magnets are the first to be utilized in any ship-to-shore cargo handling operation in North America. Another key feature of the Pinto Terminal is the uniquely designed barge haul system. This system is another first for the marine terminal industry with three units that independently or simultaneously control three barges during cargo loading operations.

Today’s barge haul systems require barges be lashed or tethered during loading or unloading; and simultaneously move through the barge haul system. Pinto Terminal’s independent action allows the cranes to load barges independently creating a more efficient system of loading.

Technology also extends in the Port Authority’s use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology at the terminal. The RFID system is capable of identifying and recording each slab, which can vary in size, weight and metallurgy. The RFID technology allows the crane operator’s computer to communicate directly with the customer to identify steel slabs needed for production at the steel mill. “This technology really streamlines cargo handling operations as it allows for inventory tracking and extremely efficient delivery to the plant,” said Lyons.

Pinto Terminal’s annual throughput capacity is about 5 million tons with a slab storage yard capacity of 150,000 tons. At full production, ThyssenKrupp will process some 5.1 million tons of carbon and stainless steel annually and employ 2,700 people. Following ThyssenKrupp’s May 2007 decision to build in Calvert, Ala., the Alabama State Port Authority had until December 2010 to complete a steel-handling terminal that would accommodate post-Panamax vessels carrying some 4.1 million tons of inbound carbon steel slab annually from Brazil and Germany and transload the slab to inland river barges bound for the mill’s processing line on the Tombigbee River.

About Alabama State Port Authority

The Alabama State Port Authority, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., owns and operates the State of Alabama’s deepwater port facilities at the Port of Mobile and its public facilities handled 24 million tons of cargo last year. The Authority’s container, general cargo and bulk facilities have immediate access to two interstate systems, five Class 1 railroads, and nearly 15,000 miles of inland waterway connections. Learn more at www.asdd.com.

About AAPA

Founded in 1912, AAPA today represents 160 of the leading seaport authorities in the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean and more than 300 sustaining and associate members, firms and individuals with an interest in seaports. As a critical link for access to the global marketplace, each year, Western Hemisphere seaports generate trillions of dollars of economic activity, support the employment of millions of people and, in 2008, imported and exported more than 7.8 billion tons of cargo, valued at $8.6 trillion, including food, clothing, medicine, fuel and building materials, as well as consumer electronics and toys. The volume of cargo shipped by water is expected to dramatically increase by 2020 and the number of passengers traveling through our seaports will continue to grow. To meet these demands, the AAPA and its members are committed to keeping seaports navigable, secure and sustainable.