Labor warns Alabama port authority seeks ‘back door’ to automation

A labor union is warning regulators that the federal government would be subsidizing future job cuts as well as a drive toward freight automation if a Buy America waiver sought by the Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) is approved.

ASPA told the Federal Railroad Administration that the waiver is necessary in order to purchase two rubber-tired gantry cranes that it wants to install at its planned intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) in Montgomery, Alabama.

Projects that receive funding under FRA’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program must adhere to the agency’s Buy America requirements, which means the steel, iron and manufactured goods used in the project must be produced in the U.S. ASPA received a $67.3 million CRISI grant for the ICTF in 2022.

However, “due to the lack of responsive bids from domestic manufacturers and based on its market research, ASPA has concluded that cranes that meet FRA’s Buy America requirements are not domestically available,” according to FRA.

“In the absence of a waiver, ASPA asserts that it would not be able to deliver the project, as planned operations are not possible without two rubber-tired gantry cranes meeting ASPA’s technical specifications.”

FRA issued a preliminary determination in November finding that ASPA qualifies for the waiver, and invited public comments.

Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD), which represents railroad employees, argued in response that because ASPA’s bid request stipulates that the cranes allow for future conversion to remote operations, a waiver “may serve as a back door to securing federal funding for a huge share of the cost of equipment that will eventually be converted to semi-automated or automated functions.”

“Put simply, this strategy, if successful, would incentivize procurements that operators would not have made without the government’s intervention. In other words, the federal government would be subsidizing the near-future elimination of jobs.”

The Montgomery ICTF is a major component of ASPA’s growth plans. It will extend intermodal rail service on CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) from ASPA’s container terminal at the Port of Mobile while reducing container storage congestion at the port and decreasing truck traffic on Interstate 65.

“This project will provide our shippers cost-competitive transportation services to and from one of the nation’s fastest growth containerized cargo gateways,” said ASPA CEO John Driscoll.

ASPA’s alleged drive toward automation has also faced backlash from dockworkers. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) initially broke off contract negotiations with employers in June 2024 after discovering that APM Terminals and Maersk Line were using an automated system to process trucks at the Port of Mobile.

A contract extension was agreed to after a three-day strike in October, but that’s set to expire on Jan. 15 – with the two sides deadlocked over the use of automation at the ports.

Support from President-elect Donald Trump, who sided with the ILA Thursday while railing against port automation, may have boosted the union’s chances for a deal that keeps automation off the docks.