Industry Clusters

Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley is Mobile’s expanding aerospace industry hub. It is home to Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility, Airbus Engineering, SAFRAN, Continental Motors, VT MAE, MAAS Aviation, Aerostar, and many other global companies. Mobile offers aviation leaders the right combination of low business costs, a skilled labor force in a right-to-work state, airport capabilities, and intermodal access to national and international markets.

Mobile area aviation and aerospace companies employ an estimated 3,500 engineers, processors, mechanics, welders, and other skilled workers, forming an ever-growing labor market. Workers are recruited from across the Gulf Coast area and trained through AIDT, Alabama’s nationally recognized training program, or Coastal Alabama Community College and the new Flight Works Alabama program. Area universities provide a wealth of engineers and other professional staff.

Industry recruiting in the Mobile Bay region is grouped into seven generic categories – aerospace, chemicals & manufacturing, healthcare, maritime, logistics & transportation, oil & gas, and technology.

Click here to learn more about Mobile’s infrastructure assets and more about this industry cluster.

Chemicals have long been a leader in Mobile’s manufacturing profile. Chlor-alkali production at Olin Corp. is being developed around the area’s salt domes, while refineries and petrochemical plants take advantage of ready access to the Gulf of Mexico. Specialty chemicals manufactured at Evonik Industries, its largest site in North America, improve hundreds of consumer products worldwide.

For more than 60 years, the Mobile area’s diverse chemical industry has grown along a 60-mile (100 km) corridor reaching from McIntosh in the north to Theodore in the south. The Chamber has joined area, state, and national partners to create the MAST (McIntosh, Axis, Saraland, and Theodore) Initiative to highlight the chemical sector’s assets and help new and existing companies take advantage of the infrastructure and synergies supporting this established industry cluster. The corridor offers an extensive pipeline network enabling efficient production and fast shipment by road, rail, air, or sea.

Industry recruiting in the Mobile Bay region is grouped into seven generic categories – aerospace, chemicals & manufacturing, healthcare, maritime, logistics & transportation, oil & gas, and technology.

Click here to learn more about Mobile’s infrastructure assets and more about this industry cluster.

Get to know MAST – the Alabama Chemical Growth Initiative.

Download the MAST Initiative brochure here.

Mobile is a regional center for medical care, research, and education. Nearly 12 percent of Mobile’s workforce is employed in the healthcare sector including more than 850 physicians and more than 160 dentists. The University of South Alabama (USA) College of Medicine and its affiliated research facilities help keep Mobile on the cutting edge of patient care.

The USA Mitchell Cancer Institute is a world-class treatment and research center serving the central Gulf Coast. It is the only Stage II and III cancer center between Houston and Tampa. Providence Hospital’s partnership with the M.D. Anderson Physicians Network also connects Mobile with many of the latest cancer treatment options.

Support services include some of the region’s leading healthcare software companies committed to developing technology solutions to improve efficiency in care, administration, and medical records.

Industry recruiting in the Mobile Bay region is grouped into seven generic categories – aerospace, chemicals & manufacturing, healthcare, maritime, logistics & transportation, oil & gas, and technology.

Click here to learn more about Mobile’s infrastructure assets and more about this industry cluster.

As the focal point for technology in south Alabama and the central Gulf Coast, the Mobile Chamber is helping transform the area’s economy to take advantage of strengths in four areas: software development, communications, IT manufacturing and services, and digital media.

Mobile is the home to an emerging technology ecosystem. The top seven technology companies by employment are homegrown. Three other technology companies were ranked in the 2016 Inc. 5000. Some 158 technology companies employ more than 5,500 in the Mobile area.

The leading occupational job categories in the Mobile area include software and systems software developers, computer systems analysts, computer programmers, and computer user support specialists.

The Mobile area has three area universities/colleges offering 4-year bachelor’s and master’s degrees in various technology majors such as computer engineering, information systems, and computer information systems. Additionally, four local colleges offer associates and certifications in network technician, computer-aided drafting, and computer technology.

The University of South Alabama Technology & Research Park, launched in April 2002, is a major economic development initiative. The park brings together academic, private, and public sectors to promote and support innovation as the key to economic growth. The park’s directive is to assist in bringing innovation to market, thereby enhancing the region’s competitive stature.

In keeping with USA’s commitment to becoming a catalyst for economic development across the Gulf Coast, the 10,000-square-foot Coastal Innovation Hub is the only high-tech incubator between New Orleans and Jacksonville, Fla. The tenants enjoy the benefit of on-site consulting, professional networks, office space, laboratories, and conference rooms, along with access to university libraries and student interns.

The Innovation Portal is a not-for-profit organization designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurism in our area through an array of business support services and resources, which will be offered both by the incubator facility and through its network of contacts. The primary goal of the Innovation Portal is to support innovation and to produce successful firms that will leave the program financially viable and remain in the Southwest Alabama community. The Innovation Portal will open in 2020 in downtown Mobile on St. Louis Street in a renovated state-of-the-art office space adding to Mobile’s reinvigorated downtown district.

Other technology and innovation programs in our area include the Tech Hire program, Start-Up Weekend, Alabama Launchpad, and the Gulf Coast Technology Council.

Industry recruiting in the Mobile Bay region is grouped into seven generic categories – aerospace, chemicals & manufacturing, healthcare, maritime, logistics & transportation, oil & gas, and technology.

Click here to learn more about Mobile’s infrastructure assets and more about this industry cluster.

Mobile’s extensive transportation infrastructure keeps business on the move. Major rail, waterway, and highway systems converge at the Port of Mobile to link businesses with the nation and the world. A new intermodal container transfer facility is now operational and Phase I construction is complete.

Mobile area companies benefit greatly from the multi-modal transportation infrastructure and the commitment by local and state authorities for ongoing investment. Domestic and global leaders such as AM/NS Calvert, BASF, Kimberly Clark, Walmart, and many other companies are shipping throughout the U.S. and world markets within days at costs lower than many other locations.

Mobile and its partners continue to invest in infrastructure that includes:

Virtually every conceivable service for the maritime industry can be found in the Mobile area. Their services include barge fleeting, container repair and leasing, freight forwarding, heavy lift, and salvage, ship chandlers, stevedoring, towing, and many more.

There are several shipbuilding and/or repair facilities along Mobile’s waterfront, including Austal USA and Signal Ship Repair, with many smaller companies located throughout the Mobile Bay region.

Industry recruiting in the Mobile Bay region is grouped into seven generic categories – aerospace, chemicals & manufacturing, healthcare, maritime, logistics & transportation, oil & gas, and technology.

Click here to learn more about Mobile’s infrastructure assets and more about this industry cluster.

Since Alabama first leased its waters for natural gas drilling in the early 1980s, a thriving cluster of more than 200 businesses has developed to serve the oil and gas industry in state waters and in adjacent federal deepwater. ExxonMobil, the major gas producer in Mobile Bay and offshore Alabama – along with W&T Offshore and Williams Mobile Bay Producer Services – processes millions of cubic feet of gas per day. Natural gas from Mobile is piped by major interstate pipelines to markets throughout the Southeast and the entire East Coast. Abundant natural gas storage is also available in underground salt domes north of Mobile.

As offshore drilling increases, Mobile area shipbuilders are responding to the market demand. At facilities along the Mobile River and on the Bayou La Batre canal, companies build offshore supply and rig standing vessels as well as repair rigs. In addition, these shipyards and others maintain full-service repair sites and shore large floating dry docks capable of upgrading drilling rigs, ships, and pipe-laying vessels.

The Alabama State Port Authority’s Middle Bay Port is located south of Mobile on the Theodore Industrial Canal and is home to Aker Solutions Umbilical Manufacturing Center. The Industrial Canal is maintained at a 40-foot draft and is located 22 miles from the Gulf of Mexico sea buoy. The Theodore Industrial Canal is home to Technip FMC’s spool base; Millard Maritime, providing world-class port and terminal services; and three shore base contractors, Martin Midstream Fuel Services, Construction Solutions Inc., and Core Industries. These shore bases are able to provide products and services to drilling rigs and platforms in shallow water, deep water, and ultra deep water.

With an excellent location, easy accessibility, and low cost of operation, Mobile will continue to play an increasingly significant role as more drilling activity occurs in the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Industry recruiting in the Mobile Bay region is grouped into seven generic categories – aerospace, chemicals & manufacturing, healthcare, maritime, logistics & transportation, oil & gas, and technology.

Click here to learn more about Mobile’s infrastructure assets and more about this industry cluster.

Steel manufacturing is a growing player in Mobile’s economy. In 2007, combined investments totaling more than $5 billion in advanced stainless steel and carbon steel facilities in north Mobile County represented the largest in the U.S. to date by foreign manufacturers. Carbon steel manufacturer AM/NS Calvert, a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., has the capability to supply over 5.2 million metric tons of advanced high-strength steel to the NAFTA auto and energy industries and employs approximately 1,600 people. Finland-based Outokumpu Stainless has the capacity to produce over 1 million metric tons of stainless steel annually and employs over 900 people.”

Mobile is SSAB America’s headquarters and is located in north Mobile County. The plant specializes in producing high-strength steel. This facility produces steel in large plates, 10 feet wide and 90 feet long. With more than 600 employees, SSAB can produce approximately 1.25 million tons of steel annually.

Berg Spiral Pipe is an industry leader in manufacturing large, spiral seamed-welded pipe. The site employs more than 175 people. The company’s recent success has been from various pipeline projects within the U.S.

There are close to 50 global headquartered companies in Mobile County. These companies have more than 13,000 employees. Eight of the top 10 manufacturers in Mobile County are foreign-based. Below is a list of those companies.

• Foreign Based Investments
• Largest Manufacturers
• Largest Non-Manufacturers