The South Alabama Logistics Park is expected to bring in thousands of new jobs before the end of the decade.

The Alabama State Port Authority is setting records for container business and is touting that over 300,000 jobs are dependent on the state agency.

APM Terminals continues to expand and is seeking employees with supply chain and logistics experience.

Logistics and distribution business is booming in Mobile County. At least one high school wants to have its students prepared for the jobs that are already available.

Theodore High School is introducing a new Distribution & Logistics Academy, a first-of-its-kind educational program aimed at preparing high school students for jobs immediately after graduation.

“It will benefit you immediately,” said Theodore High School Principal Tim Hardegree during a Thursday assembly inside the school’s auditorium introducing the program that officially begins next week.

The academy, available this year to approximately 70 students, involves a partnership with the school system and several of the county’s industrial heavy hitters that includes APM Terminals, the port, and the logistics park. Also, Evonik will provide mentorship to students introduced to the logistics field.

Students participating in the program will learn industry-specific skills and process, study global logistics and supply chain management. Two certifications will be provided – Certified Logistics Associate and Certified Logistics Technician.

“This really has been a long time coming when we think about what is going on here with logistics and infrastructure and what’s happening at APM Terminals and the South Alabama Logistics Park,” said David Rodgers, vice president of economic development with the Mobile Chamber.

The academy’s start comes at a time of growing partnerships between the public schools in coastal Alabama and the industrial sector connected to the Port of Mobile.

In Baldwin County, the school system is preparing for the fall 2024 of a new career tech high school north of Loxley. The school will partner with Airbus and Austal, to name a few, in getting students throughout Baldwin County in 10th through 12th grades real-world and on-the-job training in preparation for a job upon graduation.

In Mobile County, the focus is on academies like the Distribution & Logistics Academy. The Academies are small learning communities in each of the school system’s high schools that give students opportunities to participate in real-world, hands-on training and assignments connected to a specific career field. The Academies offer opportunities such as internships, job shadowing, workplace tours, and mentorship.

Rodgers said the Distribution & Logistics Academy has been in the works for the past year. He said the program is not simply about hiring students to become warehouse workers, but to give them the training and experience to “adapt into any industry sector.”

“Logistics and supply chain management is in every single industry today,” he said. “It goes into any kind of manufacturing. It’s health care … don’t think these are just warehousing jobs. What Airbus is mainly doing is supply chain management by shipping products and assembling them in Mobile.”

Dawson Stringer, the newly-hired logistics and supply chain management teacher at Theodore High School, will oversee the Intro to Logistics classes for 10th and 11th graders. There program will have internships as well.

“It want this to flourish,” said Hardegree. “We live in a blue-collar community. We clock-in for a living. These kids coming out of Theodore High School are not opposed to good, hard work. Now they will be able to go into the work force and be dominate.”