Corps green lights Charleston deepening

Container volume through South Carolina’s ports increased 10 percent in the current fiscal year to date (July 2010 to April 2011), despite a cooling of the global recovery.


At its regular monthly board meeting today, the South Carolina Ports Authority today reported that container volume is up 10 percent in the current fiscal year to date (July 2010 through April 2011).


Public port facilities in Charleston moved 666,831 containers, up from 605,632 in the same period last year, the South Carolina Ports Authority reported today.


Breakbulk volume through the state’s ports – driven primarily by vehicle shipments from BMW and energy related projects – rose 40 percent from 551,000 tons last year to 773,000 tons this year.


In other South Carolina Ports news, the deepening of the port of Charleston took a huge leap forward today when the US Army Corps of Engineers released its Work Plan for the rest of the fiscal year.


The Corps included funds to kick-off the next phase of the Charleston Harbour post 45-foot deepening project, which the agency has estimated will bring US$100 million in annual national benefits.


The Corps and the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) will now sign a feasibility cost sharing agreement in the coming days, allowing the project to move into the next phase.


“With bigger ships and expanding exports, the US needs a true 50-foot harbour in the southeast,” said Bill Stern, chairman of the SCPA Board.


The US Congress has already authorised Charleston deepening through the study phases, and the Corps last summer stated in its Reconnaissance Study that Charleston is likely “the cheapest South Atlantic harbour to deepen to 50 feet”.


“Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressman Jim Clyburn and Congressman Tim Scott have each individually championed this project in working with the leadership, the Administration and the Corps,” said Stern.


More than 20,000 companies in several dozen states use the Port of Charleston to access global markets. These businesses ship goods worth $50 billion a year through the Charleston Customs District and pay more than $600 million in duties into the General Treasury annually.


The Feasibility Study is estimated to be a three- to five-year process totaling $12-20 million and cost-shared 50/50 by the Federal Government and the local sponsor. The total project is estimated at $300 million.


“These projects are marathons – not sprints – requiring great persistence, involvement and support,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the port authority.


“I’m confident that we have the public support and political leadership to get us across the finish line. And the winners will be US industries, consumers and taxpayers.”


The next Charleston deepening will open the port to all classes of the world’s most modern vessels under any tidal condition. Current channel depths at low tide are 47 feet in the entrance channel and 45 feet in the inner harbor.


Charleston already has the area’s deepest channels and routinely handles ships drawing up to 48 feet on the tides today. More than 300 ships too big for the Panama Canal have already called Charleston, three years before the $5-billion canal expansion is completed in 2014.


More than 80 percent of the ship capacity on order is for ships too big for the existing canal.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)