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Port of Mobile

U.S. Gulf Coast port

Shipping heavy equipment from the Port of Mobile

Mobile handles containers, flat racks and breakbulk: boxes and flat racks load at APM Terminals Mobile, and breakbulk and project cargo at the Alabama Port Authority’s general cargo piers, but no carrier lists Mobile as a RoRo port, so machines that drive aboard ship through another Gulf port[1][3][10].

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TEUs, 2025[4]
506,188
short tons of iron and steel across the general cargo docks, 2025[4]
4,277,949
Mobile Ship Channel depth since October 2025[5]
50 ft15.24 m
Class I railroads reached through the port’s own terminal railway[6]
BNSF · CN · CPKC · CSX · NS

Official website: Alabama Port Authority. Terminal names and figures on this page come from its own publications, listed under Sources.

Container, flat rack, RoRo and breakbulk here

Shipping methods at this port and the terminals that handle them
MethodAt this portWhere
ContainerYesAPM Terminals Mobile, with a 2,424 ft berth, six ship-to-shore cranes and up to 50 ft of water[4].
Flat rackYesFlat racks load at APM Terminals Mobile, which has a specialist team and equipment for out-of-gauge cargo[3].
RoRoNoThe port has a RoRo terminal, AutoMobile International, built for vehicles, and Höegh Autoliners ships call at the general cargo piers[8][9], but Höegh does not list Mobile among its U.S. ports[10], so there is no published RoRo service to book from here. Use the Port of Houston
BreakbulkYesThe general cargo piers handle steel, forest products, heavy machinery and wind turbine parts across 18 piers with ro/ro ramps and a 40 ft draft[1]; a Gottwald mobile harbor crane lifts 110 US tons (99.8 t) at 75 ft 2 in (22.9 m)[2].

Terminals and rail

APM Terminals Mobile opened in 2008 and has had up to 50 ft of water since the channel deepening[4]; it also handles breakbulk and out-of-gauge cargo and stuffs and strips containers on the dock[3]. The general cargo piers are in the upper harbor north of the Mobile River tunnels, where the channel is up to 40 ft deep; the 50 ft depth applies to the lower harbor[4]. Pinto Island, the authority’s other deepwater berth with three rail-mounted cranes, is built for steel slabs and dry bulk rather than machinery[11].

The Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks, owned and run by the port authority, serves every terminal on the port over 75 miles of track and connects to BNSF, CPKC, Canadian National, CSX and Norfolk Southern[6][7]. Containers move by rail through the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, also run by APM Terminals: CN serves Memphis, Chicago and Canada from it, and CSX reaches Chicago in three days[4].

Questions about shipping from Mobile

Can I ship RoRo from Mobile?

Not on a published service. RoRo ships do call at Mobile, but Höegh Autoliners does not list it among its U.S. ports, so we book machines that drive aboard through Houston or another Gulf RoRo port.

Can Mobile handle heavy lift and project cargo?

Yes. The general cargo piers handle heavy machinery, steel and wind turbine parts, and the port’s Gottwald mobile harbor crane lifts 110 US tons (99.8 t) at 75 ft 2 in (22.9 m).

Can I ship a flat rack from Mobile?

Yes. Flat racks load at APM Terminals Mobile, the port’s container terminal, which has its own team for out-of-gauge cargo.

Auction yards that ship through this port

Equipment auction yards for which the Port of Mobile is one of the recommended export ports, by road distance from the yard (OSRM, OpenStreetMap).

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the documents below, each checked on the date shown. Carriers and authorities revise them, so we confirm the current figure when we book.

  1. [1]Alabama Port Authority, General cargo, checked October 18, 2026
  2. [2]Alabama Port Authority, Project cargo, checked October 18, 2026
  3. [3]APM Terminals, APM Terminals Mobile, checked October 18, 2026
  4. [4]Alabama Port Authority, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal 2025 (freight traffic statistics), checked October 18, 2026
  5. [5]Alabama Port Authority, Alabama Port Authority marks one year of 50-foot ship channel, checked October 18, 2026
  6. [6]Alabama Port Authority, MAX (Mobile America Express), checked October 18, 2026
  7. [7]Alabama Port Authority, Terminal Railway, checked October 18, 2026
  8. [8]Alabama Port Authority, Finished automotive, checked October 18, 2026
  9. [9]Alabama Port Authority, Arrivals and sailings (harbormaster report), checked October 18, 2026
  10. [10]Höegh Autoliners, Offices, agents and ports in the United States, checked October 18, 2026
  11. [11]Alabama Port Authority, Pinto steel/bulk terminal, checked October 18, 2026

Send us the machine and the destination

Give us the model or the measured dimensions and weight. We come back with the method, the sailing and a price, and the figures behind them.

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