The Alabama Port Authority released a report Thursday that said the Port of Mobile carried an economic impact of $98 billion in Alabama in 2022.

That’s up from $85 billion the previous year and three times the impact of 2018, according to the report, prepared by Martin Associates for the authority.

Gov. Kay Ivey, who joined officials from the authority and state business leaders to announce the report on the Capitol steps, called the numbers “staggering.”

“Folks, that’s $98 billion with a b,” Ivey said. “The port supports over 351,000 jobs in Alabama. And that’s one out of every seven jobs statewide. These jobs amount to over $22 billion, again that’s billion with a b, in income for hard-working Alabamians in all 67 counties. So while it may be called the port of Mobile, it is really the port of Alabama.”

The 351,000 jobs included approximately 20,000 jobs created directly to move the freight and vessels in the port, jobs that carry an average wage of $59,000. The report said another 18,000 jobs were induced by the purchases made by employees holding the direct jobs, and another 10,000 indirect jobs were supported by $1 billion in purchases made by businesses that work at the terminals and businesses that depend on the terminals.

The largest number of the jobs, about 303,000, include jobs at the firms across the state that are importing and exporting cargo through the port.

Alabama Port Authority Director and CEO John Driscoll said the port’s growth has been tremendous and will continue. More than $1 billion in capital projects are in the works, Driscoll said in a news release.

Those include expanding the capacity at the container terminal and deepening and widening the harbor.

Forbes magazine reported in December that the Port of Mobile is the second fastest growing major port in the country over the last decade, trailing only Corpus Christie, Texas.

The report said containerized cargo is the biggest factor in the port’s rapid growth.

You can go here to download the report.

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