… AND VIRGINIA
Earlier this year the Port of Charleston, S.C. boasted big gains in its shipping business – a “memorable year” reportedly including “near-record levels of containerized cargo,” according to S.C. State Ports Authority (SCSPA) chief executive Jim Newsome.
According to Newsome’s data, the government-run facility handled 1.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during the fiscal year that ended June 30 – an increase of 231,473 units (or roughly 14 percent) from the prior fiscal year.
Contributing to this increase? A major West Coast port strike …
But Charleston’s banner year paled in comparison to the big numbers put up by the Port of Savannah – which received a gift-wrapped competitive advantage courtesy of S.C. governor Nikki Haley back in 2011.
According to its data, Savannah moved a whopping 3.66 million TEUs during the recently concluded fiscal year – an increase of more than half a million units from the previous fiscal year.
That’s a seventeen percent jump …
Savannah isn’t the only neighboring port putting Charleston to shame.
As the SCSPA was bragging about its “strong finish” to the most recent fiscal year – referring to 169,913 TEUs moved during the month of June – Virginia’s public-private port system moved a whopping 213,517 TEUs that same month.
In fact through the end of September, Virginia’s data shows its port facilities currently sitting at 1.9 million TEUs for the year – equivalent to Charleston’s latest annual total.
As we noted recently, been a terrible few weeks for the S.C. State Ports Authority (SCSPA) – the government agency which runs the Port of Charleston. The SCSPA has been blasted for dragging its feet on a long-overdue public-private project in Jasper County, for overstating the benefits of a government-run dredging project in Charleston, for effectively bribing the most powerful politician in the state and for paying out tens of thousands of dollars to a shady neo-Confederate consultant.
It’s also staring down a legislative audit – and recently lost the services of one of state government’s top turnaround experts, Catherine Templeton.
11 comments
Someone needs to explain to Folks that posts are not like Football teams. 14% growth is good.
Nah, let him go on. He’s much more entertaining playing his comical numbers games.
So many port stories lately. Tom Davis must have written FITS an extra big check this month. If it’s not a story tearing down the Port of Charleston and attempting to build support for the Port of Jasper, it’s a story extolling the virtues of Kirkman Finlay. Sic, you really need to do a better job of making your paid propaganda work look less like paid propaganda work.
No chance of that. He probably ain’t makin’ it as an actual journalist, so….
???
Blasted? Again by whom that matters? No show and drunk when she does Templeton? Who cares?
So Savannah had a 17% increase and Charleston a 14% increase? Savannah had a 3% faster growth than Charleston. I think that could be a problem long term.
I don’t see, however, how the fact that the ports are state run has anything to do with the equation. Savannah’s port is state run as are Virginia’s.
“…and for paying out tens of thousands of dollars to a shady neo-Confederate consultant.” OK, Willie, WTF??? Seriously, what bearing does this have on anything? I (and most others) could care less about a consultant’s political or social beliefs. Rather, we’re concerned about the value of the consultancy. What a trashy little hit-piece. Seriously, stick to the IMPORTANT issues, like if the consultacy was a pay-to-play deal or was awarded illegally.
Who wants more grid lock and heavy truck traffic on I-26 in Charleston? Who wants more trains delaying traffic at crossings? Who wants more wear and tear on already falling apart state bridges and state roads because of increases in heavy trucks due to increase Charleston port activity? Only a fucked up piece of shit would.
Only blasted for hire, by know-nothings. Besides rapid growth in Charleston that will explode when dredging is complete, the Inland Port at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport is BOOMING! It’s mere presence here is directly leading to hundreds of millions in private capital investment and jobs. We in the Upstaate LOVE the SC Ports Authority.
You ought to love Marion County, SC who first proposed to build an inland terminal in their poverty stricken county to service the I-95 corridor and the port of Savannah. The SC Ports Authority who control inland port construction said no because we did not have a site with dual rail. The real reason..it would only service Savannah to be economically feasible. They then took our plan and built it in Greenville without dual rail and it is doing exactly what we said an inland port would do. Thanks for confirming how great the idea is, but it was not the Ports Authority, it was the Economic Development Team in Marion County and it was called SAILC and master planned by CH2MHill for the county..But the powerful ports authority said NO to the poorest county in SC only because the port would help Savannah..they didn’t care that it would have helped Marion County..Thanks for telling everyone how much it has helped the upstate…an area that did not need the help as much as Marion County did.