By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTThe Port of Mobile is being positioned as a key economic development driver for the State of Alabama in its pursuit for a major contract to build refueling tankers for the military. Mobile is in a race to become home to the nation’s largest military contract in history, a $200+ billion US Air Force tanker project that would generate over 5,000 high paying jobs in Mobile that would push the city to the front of the nation’s most prosperous cities. Team JCA, a joint mission of Massachusetts-based Raytheon Co., and Mobile-based EADS CASA North America, is in hot pursuit of the $3 billion Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) contract—a merged program of the US Army and US Air Force. Two years ago, EADS selected Mobile’s Brookley Industrial Complex over sites in Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina for an engineering and manufacturing plant if awarded the US Air Force contract to build the next generation of refueling tankers. Northrop Grumman Corp. has also selected the Mobile Brookley Complex for its KC-30 Production Center, announcing it would partner with EADS North America if awarded the program. Northrop Grumman entered the competition as the prime contractor, with EADS as its principle subcontractor. As the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman would be responsible for contract management, major sub-systems decisions, and all military modifications to the Airbus-330 advanced refueling airframe supplied by EADS North America. Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 Tanker aircraft is based on the successful A330 airliner, and is a derivative of the tanker/transport aircraft already selected for service in Australia’s and the United Kingdom’s air forces. If the KC-330 advanced tanker is selected by the US Air Force, more than 1,150 jobs and a $600 million investment will be made in an assembly plant, with a potential $20 billion impact. The contract is in competition with Everett, Washington-based Boeing. An announcement is expected this summer. Superb InfrastructureMobile is already a center for aviation/aerospace activity. Brookley is regarded as the best aerospace industrial development site in the nation. The prime reason is its superb logistics infrastructure that brings together air, water, rail and overland transportation. “Logistics is an easy sale,” states William B. Sisson, vice president, economic development, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. For starters, the city is at the crossroads of Interstate 65, which provided direct north-south access to Chicago, and Interstate 10, which runs east-west from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, FL. It is served by five Class 1 railroads: Burlington Northern Santa Fe/Alabama & Gulf Coast Railroad, Canadian National, CSX, Kansas City Southern, and Norfolk Southern (NS). At its heart is the Port of Mobile, a deepwater port and the city’s biggest logistics asset. Although historically a niche port servicing primarily the agricultural industry, the seaport is rapidly moving to become a destination for containerized freight. That’s because the Alabama State Docks is currently undergoing the largest expansion in its history by expanding its container processing and storage facility at the 400-acre Choctaw Point and increasing container storage at the docks by over 1,000%. Consequently, the Port will be capable of handling 250,000 to 300,000 teus annually, an increase from the approximate 50,000 teus handled today. International shipping giants APM Terminals North America Inc., a subsidiary of Maersk, and Terminal Link S.A., a division of CMA CGM S.A., partnered with the Alabama State Port Authority to build the massive Choctaw Point Container Terminal, a $300 million intermodal facility that will bring together ship, rail, truck and air transportation modes into one contiguous site. The 2,000 foot container terminal features two ship berths, four gantry cranes and location on a 45-foot ship channel. It is expected to attract a significant share of the fast-growing container shipping market and move the