Officials hail expansion of intermodal center

Upgraded crane helps mark 3-year, $13 million project

By MARIAN ACCARDI

An overhead crane capable of lifting a 45-ton load was the focal point of a celebration Tuesday for the International Intermodal Center's completed expansion.

Government and business leaders gathered to watch the upgraded crane, part of the facility's three-year, $13.4 million expansion. The project also included paving a portion of the center's graveled yard and making other improvements that will allow the facility to handle 100,000 containers a year, said Rick Tucker, the executive director of the Port of Huntsville.

The port includes the intermodal center, Huntsville International Airport and Jetplex Industrial Park.

The intermodal center, located off Wall-Triana Highway, receives, stores and distributes air, rail and highway cargo. The complex was built to help industry do business in a global marketplace, Tucker said. Ninety percent of the cargo in and out of the intermodal center has an international origin or destination.

Tucker thanked U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, for their efforts in providing the federal money necessary to complete the expansion project.

The intermodal center's expansion helps to fulfill one of the Port of Huntsville's themes of "growing the region with a global perspective," said Nancy Green-Burg, a member of the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority. The center had 33,124 lifts in fiscal year 2004, which ended June 30, she said. That's an increase of more than 26 percent over the previous fiscal year.

"Huntsville has been successful in integrating itself into the excruciatingly dynamic and competitive global market," said Robert Martinez, vice president for business development with Norfolk Southern Corp.

Norfolk Southern's volume in Huntsville has grown 36 percent through September of this year, Martinez said. "Norfolk Southern is bullish on Huntsville and bullish on Alabama."

Shelby had a suggestion for the airport's next goal.

"Let's make this the longest runway in the Southeast," he said. "Why should Miami have a longer runway?"

In May, officials celebrated the opening of the airport's west runway extension. That $31 million project, three years in the making, lengthened the runway from 8,000 feet to 12,600 feet.

That project made the Huntsville airport runway the second longest in the Southeast, after Miami International Airport.