The Alabama Port Authority announced it has awarded a contract to produce two new stacker reclaimers to service the McDuffie Coal Terminal in the Port of Mobile. The deal will see Pittsburgh-headquartered Richmond Engineering Works, LLC (REW) engineer, fabricate, and install the new equipment.
The new stacker reclaimers are part of the $200 million McDuffie Coal Terminal modernization project and will replace two aging units installed in 1974 and 1982. The new machines will nearly double the productivity of the old equipment, ensuring the terminal’s loading rates meet the increased capacity of the deeper ship channel and additional demand from customers’ mine investments statewide, the port authority said.
“With the widening and deepening of the channel coming online next year, these investments are a top priority for the port so we can load bigger ships with more cargo even more efficiently,” said John Driscoll, director and CEO of the Alabama Port Authority. “Not only will the new efficiencies allow us to deliver a competitive advantage to our customers, but it also strengthens our ability to drive economic growth for the State of Alabama.”
The Mobile Harbor deepening and widening project, which will be completed in May of 2025, will take the channel from -45 to -50 feet. The port estimates that the additional five feet of depth could allow the terminal to load up to 35,000 more tons of coal per ship.
REW, which specializes in bulk material handling equipment, will spend at least 34% of the contract value—approximately $20.5 million—with Alabama-based fabricators, suppliers, and contractors. Local Mobile-area businesses will provide concrete, fasteners, and installation services.
REW operating manager R. Mark Judy, P.E., said, “These will be the first machines of this size built in the United States and engineered by a U.S.-based company in nearly 50 years. All of the fabrication for these machines will be done in the United States, with much of it provided by Alabama-based shops. Construction labor will be performed by Mobile-area contractors.”
REW will also establish a local office in Mobile staffed with engineers and technicians. This office is expected to remain operational for at least two years.
REW has supported the port authority on a number of projects in recent years, Judy said: “Over the past few years, we have supplied a new rail car dumper and a train positioner, along with major upgrades to barge unloading equipment at McDuffie Coal Terminal.”
REW’s barge unloading project for McDuffie was funded by a $20 million appropriation from the state of Alabama in 2022. An additional $5 million of public funding for coal handling equipment at McDuffie was secured by Congressman Jerry Carl in 2023.
According to the port authority, 97% of coal passing through McDuffie Terminal is metallurgical coal mined in Alabama for use in steel-making operations worldwide. Much of this steel returns through the Port of Mobile for use in the Alabama automotive industry.
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