Georgetown port throughput plunges by almost half

The Port of Georgetown's volume has been cut almost in half in the past year, reported The Sun-News.

In the 2010 fiscal year, the port had traffic volume of 164,571 tonnes, said Byron Miller, spokesman for the SC Ports Authority. That number is down 43 percent, or 121,682 tonnes, from the volume the port had in the 2009 fiscal year.

Miller said that decrease was because of the economic downturn but also because the port, which used to be 27 ft deep, is now about 21 ft deep. He said the shallower depth restricts the options for port business.

"That greatly limits the ability to bring in ships," he said, meaning very small ships or barges are the only options for Georgetown.

But he said the Ports Authority has an "aggressive budget for business through Georgetown".

"Every new non-container we heard about, the first place we try to put it is Georgetown," he said.

And Miller said there are at least three potential new customers for the Port of Georgetown that the authority is working with.

"One is bringing in rock, the others steel and forest product," he said.

He said the authority's plan is to bring in around 507,000 tonnes of freight to Georgetown during the 2011 fiscal year, a 214 percent increase from 2010.

"We're being aggressive this fiscal year," Miller said.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)