By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOT From new bulk-handling facilities and project cargo infrastructure to hurricane-resistant offices and command centers, enhancements are advancing at ports throughout the Central Gulf region. Several mid-Gulf ports have inked agreements with energy sector entities, while others are focused upon diversification of activities. Beginning in Alabama and working eastward across Mississippi and Louisiana, here’s the latest at ports of the Central Gulf region: Alabama State Port Authority New infrastructure now serving shippers at the Port of Mobile includes the Alabama State Port Authority’s $110 million Pinto Steel Terminal, opened in February, with three 78-metric-ton electric gantry cranes equipped with magnet lift technology that reduces dunnage and manpower during operations and radio frequency identification technology that tracks and inventories cargo. A uniquely engineered barge haul system independently or simultaneously controls three barges during operations, and all of Pinto’s equipment and systems are driven by electric power, cutting carbon emissions and noise levels. This month, the Alabama authority, in a venture with Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co., launched new heavylift services. A 900-ton, barge-mounted heavylift crane can discharge cargo of as many as 400 short tons from midship to barge, shore, rail, truck or specialized carrier. Also, Mobile Container Terminal, which has just added CMA CGM’s PEX 3 all-water service to Asian ports, attracted service during the economic downturn from Maersk, Hyundai Merchant Marine and APL, serving Central America, South America and Europe, augmenting Mobile container service first offered by Zim American Integrated Shipping Services Co. Inc. Port of Pascagoula Advancement of a pair of navigation projects tops the good news from the Jackson County (Miss.) Port Authority’s Port of Pascagoula. Having gained conditional approval in May from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the Pascagoula River Harbor dredge material management plan, which is critical for continued maintenance of the port’s 42-foot-deep channel. Nearing approval is the widening of the entrance channel to 550 feet from the present 450 feet. The Port of Pascagoula has been suffering this year from a dramatic dropoff in exports of frozen poultry – one of the port’s traditional leading commodities – due to the Russian ban on chlorine-treated poultry imports that has been in place since early January. Exports of forest and paper products, including lumber, plywood, poles and linerboard, have remained stable into 2010, with an increase of slightly more than 8 percent over 2009 to date. Mississippi State Port Authority Nearly five years after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, restoration of the Mississippi State Port Authority’s Port of Gulfport continues, with nine of the port’s 10 berths having now returned to operations. The port has restored 400,000 square feet of shed storage lost during the August 2005 storm, while a project to elevate the West Pier to 25 feet above sea level, which began in June 2009, is advancing. Beneficiaries of the elevation project should include such port tenants as Chiquita, Dole, Crowley and DuPont. In March, the port filed an environmental permit application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and appropriate regulating agencies, so the environmental permitting process for the port’s $570 million federally funded restoration is under way. Professional engineer Joe Conn, formerly of the Corps of Engineers, has been hired as the MSPA’s director of disaster recovery to lead the port’s rebuilding efforts, and 12 contracts have been awarded for design and engineering services related to the port’s restoration, with CH2M Hill serving as the program manager. Port Fourchon At Louisiana’s southernmost port, Port Fourchon, activity has long centered around serving the offshore oil and gas industries. However