Birmingport
Birmingport (or Port Birmingham) is a river port and rail terminal located on the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River in northwestern Jefferson County on Alabama Highway 169 (Birmingport Road) south of Quinton.
The port was founded about 1929 and annexed into the city of Birmingham in 1986. Port activity stretches for about two miles along the banks of Locust Fork, primarily serving the steel and road construction industries with raw materials shipped north from Mobile by barge. The port's primary export is coal from the Oak Grove Mine.
Rail access to the port is by the former Barge Line Railroad, now part of the Birmingham Southern Railroad operated by Transtar (which was spun off of USX).
In 1977, with modernization of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway nearing completion, a master plan for the port was commissioned by the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission from Allen and Hoshall of Memphis, Tenneessee. The report found that little new demand would be placed on the existing private operations at Birmingport unless major investments were made to develop riverfront industrial sites. The plan recommended development of a 1,250+ acre riverside industrial park with a public terminal. When asked for an update in 1989, a smaller industrial park and port terminal were recommended, but existing private operators were still seen as capable of filling immediate demand.
Operators
- Warrior and Gulf Navigation (Transtar)
- Port Liberty (Liberty Stevedoring)
- Birmingham Marine Terminal (Parker Towing)
References
- "Waterfront Industrial Park Suggested for Warrior River" (March 4, 1977) Florence Times-Daily
- Nicholson, Gilbert (October 1, 1999) "Birmingport is best-kept secret." Birmingham Business Journal
- Nicholson, Gilbert (October 1, 1999) "Birmingport: Will it die when coal runs out?" Birmingham Business Journal