Roll Tide! War Dam Eagle! Geaux Tigers! Walmart is coming to Mobile Alabama to build 2.9 Million Square feet!

The first and only Airbus U. S. Manufacturing Facility is located in Mobile, Alabama commenced aircraft assembly this time last year (July 2015) and delivered its completed aircraft in April of 2016. The facility is scheduled to deliver 4 a month by the end of 2017. That was pretty big news for the entire 1.1 million people in Gulf South Region spanning from Florida, Alabama and Mississippi gulf coast after the devastating BP oil spill.  Things are getting ready to get even better.

A couple of weeks ago at the law firm McDowell Knight Roedder & Sledge, executives in the real estate and logistics community overflowed the firm’s main board room with discussion about the recently announced 2.9 million square foot intermodal import facility that Walmart intends to construct. This is a game changer for the Port of Mobile, the businesses that serve it  and many of the potential exporter industries in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Like the SEC football teams beloved in this area, the Port of Mobile is consistently ranked in the top 10. Walmart is the largest container importer in the United States. The Port of Mobile will now be one of four import hubs for the retail giant; this in itself is substantial.

What will fill the empty containers headed back to China is equally and maybe more exciting to this group of executives. Agriculture, soybeans, cotton and corn are the largest exports to China, followed by airplanes, cars, trucks, electronics and coal. Alabama and Mississippi are in the top 10 of automobile manufacturer and cotton producers. It’s also possible that Airbus will likely will use some of the containers. Coal is already a big Mobile export and it is likely to grow.

It’s for sure that there will be a lot more warehouses built and trucks on the road…all big news and big business for the Gulf South area!