Category: Announcements

Charleston, SC - The Port of Charleston's Union Pier Terminal is bustling with breakbulk cargo. Driven primarily by steel shipments, activity on the dock and in the facility's two largest warehouses has grown substantially in recent months.  

In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year (April-June), the terminal handled 50,079 tons of non-containerized freight, predominantly steel wire rod and coils, much of which is utilized in tire production, and steel billets. This was an 85 percent jump from the preceding nine months of the fiscal year combined, during which the terminal handled 27,109 tons of cargo.  

Paul McClintock, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), credits the agency's focus on recruiting non-container accounts as well as a new, monthly breakbulk service that was announced in the spring. 

"We've been aggressive in recruiting breakbulk in an ongoing effort to diversify the port's business," McClintock said. "We're exporting a large amount of steel used in construction. On the import side, we are seeing steel wire rod and coils used to manufacture tires, which is a large and growing segment in the state." 

South Carolina ranks first in the nation for tire exporting. With Michelin, Bridgestone and Continental Tire all locating to or expanding in South Carolina, tire manufacturing is one of the largest industrial sector employers in South Carolina. These three companies employ more than 12,000 in the state.  

"At Union Pier, we have more than 290,000 square feet of warehouse storage space to handle weather-sensitive cargo, like steel wire rod and coils and paper, as well as large lay-down areas suitable for traditional breakbulk," McClintock said. 

Since repositioning the port's major ro-ro accounts to Columbus Street Terminal in March 2011, Union Pier offers additional space for non-containerized accounts. The SCPA invested nearly $25 million to convert Columbus Street Terminal from a container facility to a premier, vehicle-handling and multi-use facility. 

Earlier this year, Grieg Star Shipping selected Charleston for its monthly service, which calls Union Pier Terminal. Since March, the terminal has handled a total of 14 cargo vessels.

Charleston's non-container facilities handled 1.12 million tons of bulk and breakbulk cargo in fiscal year 2013, a 30 percent jump from the previous year. The SCPA projects an approximately 10 percent increase in breakbulk and non-containerized cargo at the Port of Charleston during the next 12 months.

Charleston, SC - The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) has been named to an industry best list of organizations “pushing the sustainability envelope” within the transportation sector.

Inbound Logistics selected global companies and organizations making measurable progress and “leading by example” for its 75 Green Supply Chain Partners list. Only six ports in the nation, including just two port authorities on the East Coast, were selected for the honor.

“Our efforts to reduce emissions through new and upgraded equipment, better fuels and replacing the oldest trucks that serve our port are leading among ports in the region,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCPA. “We know that green efforts not only make good business sense, but they are also key to being a productive and responsible part of the local community.”

Starting with a pool of more than 200 transportation and logistics companies, the publication’s selection process took into account an organization’s involvement in three areas: public-private partnerships, corporate sustainability initiatives and collaborative customer-driven projects.

The publication cited the SCPA’s commitment to reducing air emissions, including electrification and repowering of on-terminal equipment and its first-in-the region truck replacement program, which aims to eliminate the oldest, dirtiest trucks from the local private-sector truck fleet.

Earlier this year, the SCPA released the results of its latest air emissions inventory, which analyzed emissions of six criteria pollutants from trucks, trains, cargo-handling equipment, ships and tugs and spanned an approximately 2,500-square-mile area. In a five-year period, emissions related to the SCPA’s cargo-handling equipment demonstrated double-digit reductions for all criteria pollutants, including a 60 percent reduction in Nox, a 57 percent reduction in particulate matter (PM) and a 99 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide (SO2). The report also found that emissions from trucks calling the SCPA’s facilities similarly have made major air-quality strides, with reductions in all six criteria pollutants.

Several other companies that do business in and around the SCPA’s terminals, including ocean carriers, trucking companies, third-party logistics providers and others, were also named to the list in the magazine’s June issue.

Inbound Logistics is the leading trade magazine targeted toward business logistics and supply chain managers. The magazine's editorial mission is to help companies of all sizes better manage corporate resources by speeding and reducing inventory and supporting infrastructure, and better matching demand signals to supply lines.

The magazine’s G75 special section is available online.

Charleston, SC - In results announced at today’s regular Board meeting, South Carolina’s public seaport system continued above-market growth during fiscal year 2013.

Container business at the Port of Charleston was up nine percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, with 1.56 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled during the past 12 months.

“The shipping industry trend toward mega-consortia will ultimately be an advantage for deepwater harbors, like Charleston,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), referring to the rise of new carrier consortia such as the G6 and, more recently, the P3. “While just under the aggressive target we set for the past fiscal year, Charleston’s growth remains at more than double the average market growth for the nation’s ports,” he said.
June container figures were up four percent from the same month last year, reflecting the start of new or upsized container services in the port this summer. Charleston’s two container facilities handled 125,257 TEUs last month.

Charleston’s non-container facilities - Columbus Street, Union Pier and Veterans terminals - handled 1.12 million tons of bulk and breakbulk cargo in FY13, a 30 percent jump from the previous year. While breakbulk volumes grew around one percent, the biggest gains in these combined segments were associated with a large-scale, local paving project that has since concluded.

In the Port of Georgetown, business at the dock was off 10 percent, with 494,645 pier tons handled from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.

Additional highlights from FY13 included:

In other action, the SCPA Board approved a contract for nearly $2 million related to dike raising at Drum Island, a 200-acre upland disposal site for material from berth maintenance dredging at Columbus Street and Union Pier terminals. L&L Contractors, Inc. of Andrews, South Carolina was awarded a $1.99-million construction contract to raise the dikes by six feet, which will create an additional 1.5 million cubic yards of dredge capacity at the site.

Charleston, SC - Nearly 1,000 acres of environmentally and historically significant properties in the Cooper River watershed are being permanently protected, under a $1-million land preservation program by the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA). The effort is part of the SCPA’s $12-million environmental and community mitigation package related to the new container terminal under construction at the former Navy Base in North Charleston.

“As the port grows and thrives, it is vital that we continue to be a productive component of the local community,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCPA. “That is accomplished both through the jobs and opportunities afforded to our neighbors through the maritime community, and also through efforts like this that enhance the Charleston region overall.”

In all, three properties totaling more than 967 acres are being preserved through the SCPA plan. Protection of the largest tract, the 824-acre Buck Hall Plantation property, was finalized last week.

Buck Hall is located on the west branch of the Cooper River adjacent to Mepkin Abbey. The property includes 375 acres of wetlands that will be preserved, free of further development, in perpetuity.

Additional properties now under conservation easements through the SCPA funds include 22 acres at the St. James Chapel of Ease in Goose Creek and 122 acres at Brickyard Plantation, which is located on the east branch of the Cooper River at the upper stream of Quimby Creek.

The SCPA partnered with the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust to identify and acquire the properties. The property owners each have signed agreements with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, placing their properties under conservation easements.

Additional components in the SCPA’s $12-million mitigation plan included a $1 million contribution to protect the 126-acre Morris Island site as a public space for future generations, a five-year collaboration with EcoHealth Alliance on aerial surveys of right whale migrations and a $1-million partnership with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources SCORE (South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement) program to restore approximately five miles of oyster reefs in the area. Elsewhere in the harbor, the SCPA will be recreating a 22-acre tract of tidal marsh on the southern end of Drum Island.

In addition to the traditional environmental mitigation activities, the SCPA, in coordination with the City of North Charleston and neighborhoods surrounding the new terminal, is funding $4 million toward education and job training programs, an affordable housing trust and other community initiatives.

The new terminal at the former Navy Base is currently the only permitted, new container terminal under construction on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts. The facility, at build out, will boost the Port of Charleston’s container capacity by 50 percent.

Charleston, SC - Continuing its growth trajectory, container volume in the Port of Charleston was up nine percent in April compared to the same month last year, with 134,718 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled at the port’s two container terminals. April 2013 represented a more than 17 percent increase from the same month two years ago.

“Our volume continues to grow above the market, and we must continue our aggressive sales efforts as we heavily invest in our port’s infrastructure,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCPA. The SCPA is building an inland port in Greer, SC to enhance freight movement to and from a key area for the port’s customers in the region. Additionally, the SCPA is constructing a new container terminal on the former Charleston Navy Base in North Charleston to boost container capacity by 50 percent at full build out.

In the fiscal year to date (July through April), container volume was 10 percent ahead of the same period last year and represents the highest fiscal year to date in five years. The Port of Charleston moved 1,295,717 TEUs during the past 10 months, compared to 1,178,843 TEUs in fiscal year 2012.

“With new service deployments beginning in June, and additional large vessels calling our port this month, we expect a solid finish to the fiscal year,” Newsome said.

Non-containerized cargo tonnage spiked in April, in part from increased breakbulk activity at Union Pier Terminal as well as bulk project cargo related to a large-scale, local paving project. The SCPA’s non-containerized facilities in Charleston and Georgetown handled 155,842 tons of cargo in April, a 42 percent increase from the same month last year. Pier tons at the two ports totaled 1,361,036 tons of bulk and breakbulk cargo from July to April, a 17 percent gain from the same period in fiscal year 2012.

The month of April also saw the first Maersk ship of more than 8,000-TEU capacity to call the Port of Charleston, with the 1,155-foot-long Axel Maersk call on April 1. On April 30, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, along with the SCPA, hosted a meeting updating the public about progress of Charleston’s Post 45 Harbor Deepening Project. LTC Ed Chamberlayne and Corps staff members shared information about the environmental, economic, and engineering aspects the deepening study, which is ahead of the originally projected schedule and under initial budget estimates. A “We Can’t Wait” project as designated by the President, Charleston’s feasibility study and necessary reviews are to be completed by September 2015.

For more information:
Allison Skipper, APR
Manager, Public Relations
South Carolina Ports Authority
843-577-8121
www.scspa.com

Charleston, SC - To support export growth and economic investment associated with international trade, the nation must develop a prioritization system, a merit-based budget process and predictable means of authorization for needed port infrastructure, the head of the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) told members of a Congressional committee today.

This morning, the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation heard testimony about the state of the nation’s freight transportation system from five industry executives representing different areas of the supply chain.

At the hearing, SCPA President and CEO Jim Newsome gave an overview of the changes seen in the maritime industry as a result of globalization, noting that U.S. manufacturing and export activity has been on the rise in recent years and, simultaneously, the global fleet is upsizing.

“The global shipping industry, especially the container carriers, has responded with significant investment in new vessels,” Newsome stated. “Two-thousand thirteen will see the largest injection of new container capacity into the global container fleet in the history of containerization.”

Newsome highlighted the approximately $2 billion in investments in port-related infrastructure by the SCPA and the State of South Carolina to support the growth of the Southeast region as both a consumption market and exporting hub. These investments include significant additional container capacity as well as $300 million set aside by the S.C. General Assembly to cover the entire cost of Charleston’s harbor deepening project to take the port’s shipping channel to 50 feet.

“The federal harbor system has not kept pace with the dramatic increase in size of ships,” Newsome said. “Going forward, it is vital that a viable strategy and process is established at the federal level to bring port capability in line with the handling requirements of such large ships.

“As with other major transportation projects, harbor deepening, maintenance and infrastructure improvements should be treated as high-priority projects subject to streamlined approval and with a steady and reliable stream of funding,” he said.

Newsome recognized the strides made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, though its SMART Planning directive, to accelerate the study of port infrastructure projects.

“But sustainable improvement will only be realized when a ‘private sector’ type capital budgeting approach is taken to such port improvement projects,” Newsome said.

Such an approach might include these components:

Additional witnesses at the hearing included Fred Smith of FedEx Corp., Charles Moorman of Norfolk Southern Corp., Derek Leathers of Werner Enterprises and Edward Wytkind of AFL-CIO.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on the Panama Canal expansion’s impact on the nation’s freight movements and infrastructure needs. At the hearing, local trucking executive Phil Byrd, president and CEO of Bulldog Hiway Express and first vice chairman of the American Trucking Association, outlined how inland modes of transportation must keep pace with improvements made on the water side. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), a member of this committee, highlighted during the hearing the importance of the Port of Charleston to serve the nation’s economy.

Newsome’s testimony to the Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation is available in its entirety by clicking here.

Charleston, SC - The Port of Charleston is having its strongest fiscal year for container volume in five years, according to results announced today at the regular meeting of the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) Board of Directors.

During the first nine months of the fiscal year which began July 1, the SCPA’s box volume was up 10 percent over the same period last year, with 1,160,999 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled at the SCPA’s two container terminals in Charleston through March 2013.

“We are pleased that our actions to increase volume are bearing fruit,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCPA. Newsome noted that the upcoming fourth quarter of the fiscal year traditionally has been a period of strong numbers. “There are a number of deployments of large vessels which should further influence volume, especially on the export side.”

The Port of Charleston handled 136,877 TEUs in March, a 1.5 percent increase over the same month last year and a 13.8 percent increase over March 2011.

Bulk and breakbulk tonnage similarly posted positive year-over-year results during the first nine months of the fiscal year. The SCPA’s non-containerized facilities in Charleston and Georgetown handled 1,205,194 pier tons of cargo from July to March, a 14.5 percent gain from the same period in fiscal year 2012.

In other action, the SCPA Board approved $12.9 million in additional funding toward the South Carolina Inland Port (SCIP) in Greer, SC, currently under construction. The project’s design is now more than 90 percent complete with a projected opening in September 2013.

Located 212 miles from the Port of Charleston, the SCIP will serve as the extension of the SCPA’s coastal facilities in the middle of the largest concentration of in-state port customers in the Upstate region of South Carolina. Importantly, the facility immediately will convert 25,000 existing truck trips on I-26 to rail transportation. The SCIP will have an expected capacity of 40,000 containers at start up and, with the newly approved funding, will grow its capability to around 80,000 lifts a year.

The Board also approved the transfer of 2.24-acres of property to Clemson University for the wind turbine testing center under construction in North Charleston on the former Navy Base. The property will be used to house an electrical power station for the Clemson University Restoration Institute wind turbine project.

Charleston, SC - Robert (Bob) Greulich has joined the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) as its Hong Kong-based sales representative. A more than 40-year veteran of the maritime industry, Greulich is responsible for marketing the Port of Charleston’s public marine terminals to both shippers and ocean carriers throughout Hong Kong and Singapore.

A native of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Greulich spent the majority of his career at K-Line, a top 20 global carrier based in Japan. At K-Line, Greulich lived in both Japan and Hong Kong, working in various roles in sales and marketing and retiring after 27 years as director of K-Line Hong Kong. Most recently, he served as vice president of international sales for Wan Hai Lines, a Taiwan-based container shipping company.

“I can’t think of a better sales professional to represent us in Hong Kong,” said John Wheeler, vice president of carrier sales for the SCPA. “Singapore and Hong Kong represent a critically important region for the Port of Charleston’s long-range strategic growth, and Bob’s expertise and contacts throughout the region will be a tremendous asset.”

The SCPA has been actively growing its presence in the Asia trade lane. Last year, the Port of Charleston added two weekly container services in the trade, bringing its total to eight weekly services connecting South Carolina to ports across Asia.

Greulich earned a bachelor’s degree in business logistics from Penn State University in 1967. He joins the SCPA’s existing team of foreign sales representatives based in Shanghai, China; Seoul, South Korea; and Mumbai, India.