Members heard from guest speaker Judy Adams of the Alabama State Port Authority, who discussed the numerous ongoing projects at Alabama premier port. Even though the port saw a downturn in business in 2016 due to external factors, the port is still the 10th busiest port in the US, with a local impact tied to 124,000 jobs and millions of dollars in the local economy. The Port of Alabama is also poised for exponential growth in the near future, with an intermodal container port facility that is in Phase Two of a five phase plan, a potential automobile/ RORO port on the drawing board, and the beginning of a four-year federal study to widen the Mobile Ship Channel to accommodate larger post-Panama sized vessels. Adams also indicated that the proposed Walmart IDC super-distribution center could serve as a boon not just for the port, but for the regional economy as well because of the impact the facility will have on shipping costs through Mobile.