John C. Driscoll is the Alabama Port Authority’s director and chief executive officer. With more than 25 years of global maritime industry experience, Driscoll assumed the helm of the port in June 2020 – a very tenuous time for the shipping and logistics industry.
Since that time, the Port has seen tremendous growth. In 2022, the Port generated over $140 billion of economic impact across the United States, with nearly $100 billion in Alabama alone. In addition, the Port of Mobile was recently named as the second fastest-growing America port of entry by Forbes – ahead of Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
Under Driscoll’s leadership, the Port has also become the fastest-growing container terminal in the United States by overall percentage of growth. In March, the Port marked its third-highest volume in the history of the Port of Mobile’s container terminal, moving 53,608 TEUs, a 27% increase from the same period last year – numbers made more remarkable in the face of global shipping downturns.
Driscoll is also leading major expansion efforts, both in Mobile and statewide. The Port currently has more than $1 billion in capital projects underway across Alabama. More than half of this has been made possible by funds received from the federal and state governments, with the lion’s share due to the tireless efforts of former Senator Richard Shelby. Beyond these public funding sources, the Port reinvests all revenue outside of operating expenses in improving and expanding its facilities.
That financial stewardship and support from elected leaders enables growth in capacity. Projects underway include the ship channel deepening and widening project, which will make the Port of Mobile the Gulf Coast’s deepest port upon its completion in the first quarter of 2025. Driscoll is also leading the Port Authority’s intermodal service expansion with two new facilities, one in Montgomery and another in Decatur, set to begin operations in the next several years. These facilities will support the ICTF in Mobile and the expansion of the container terminal, which is set to double its capacity by 2027.
Other planned and ongoing investments include constructing an inter-terminal connector bridge to create on-dock rail access at the container terminal, modernizing general cargo piers, and new equipment to expand capacity at the McDuffie Coal Terminal.
Before joining the Port Authority, John served as the maritime director at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, California, where he oversaw operations and marketing at one of the nation’s top 10 container seaports. He is credited with improving Oakland’s operating efficiency, financial performance, and community relations. John also served as vice president of export sales for CMA CGM (America) LLC., a leading container shipping group. His tenure included business development in the U.S. and Caribbean Basin and pricing strategies for 19 liner services in the U.S. East/West trade routes.
John graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Science in business management, with an emphasis in transportation and marketing. The Bethesda, Maryland, native and his wife, Linda, have three children and reside in Mobile, Alabama.