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North Carolina wants to challenge Charleston's port


Charleston native

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  • 2 months later...

Your probably right. The main reason the port is there now is because of Georgetown Steel, which has closed up. I wouldn't be suprised to see them focus solely on Charleton. Personally I would like to see Georgetown remain a port city, even if it can only handle the smaller craft. I think it would be good to have a place to handle any spill over, just incase Charleston gets backed up.

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Isn't there a rather large paper mill in Georgetown too? In anycase, the port in Georgetown is an outlet for the Intercoastal Waterway and Waccamaw River so that is a big incentive to keep it open.

I think you are right. I hope that they keep it open.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, as of now, it appears as though Charleston's most intense competition is coming from Savannah.

:sick: Ugh! I was afraid of this. Savannah has been clamoring to surpass Chas in tonnage, and it seems like it will do it. This is all the more reason to quit stalling on the Navy base terminal project and access road.

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SPA botched its real opportunity for expansion and for enhancing port security. A private consulting firm submitted a proposal to the SPA for using the TC dock, grain elevator site, and a large portion of unused land on the Weapons Station as the site for a new port. Senator Hollings thought it was a great idea and military higher ups stated the same. From an article in the P&C:

North of the shipyard was a patch of green, the future Noisette area, and then the river returns to an industrial hodgepodge of oil tanks and loading facilities. The SPA actually looked at this area in 1987 as a possible site for a container terminal, noting its proximity to the shipping channel and good access to the Mark Clark Expressway and railroads. But the private oil and loading terminals take up only 189 acres, not enough land for a large container terminal. The SPA probably would have to condemn the properties, which would create a series of expensive and time-consuming legal hurdles. Heindel sped under the Mark Clark Expressway bridge, past the sprawling Westvaco plant and the SPA's North Charleston Terminal, toward the final stop on the tour. North of the SPA's terminal are the S.C. Farm Bureau's grain elevators and the Army's transportation depot. "They don't use the grain elevators that much anymore," Heindel said. Why not tear down the elevators and extend the SPA's docks onto the military's property? That's what Gary Pruitt and Leroy Roland, who run a small waterfront consulting firm, have been pushing for the past two years. They eventually caught the ear of Sen. Fritz Hollings, Gov. Jim Hodges and Rep. Henry Brown, who all said the idea was worth exploring. But when Summey found out about the plan, he went ballistic, literally. He cranked up the city police department's armored personnel carrier, stuck a machine gun on top and held a press conference to declare "war" on the concept. Ports authority leaders were lukewarm. They said that expanding onto the military's transportation dock was a good idea that would relieve a short-term space crunch at its terminals, but there wasn't enough land available to serve the agency's long-term needs. The military, meanwhile, seemed open to the idea of the military sharing the area with the SPA. Gen. Charles T. Robertson Jr. of the U.S. Transportation Command wrote Hollings: "Bottom line: I am looking forward to a process that will ultimately benefit the Port of Charleston and provide the assured capability essential to (the command's) mission to deploy our forces."

There are unknown politics in all of this and assuredly it is all about money and under the table agreements. Counter to the article, there is a ton of free land available and unused on the Weapons Station. I can't remember how many acres - it has been a while since I read the proposal - but it was substantial. Part of the proposal Gary Pruitt submitted included building an inland port (distribution center) in Orangeburg. It was all a great idea. Cargo is off-loaded and put on a train to Orangeburg. Security is provided by the sheer fact the cargo is inspected and off-loaded on a military facility. At Orangeburg (closer to I-95 and I-20 access for sure) containers are put on trailers and head to their destinations.

No added strain to the existing road system here. The land on the Weapons Station was available for free. All the port had to do was send a letter to the commander stating their desire to expand to that area. I know this is correct as I saw the letter. Free land. No new roads needed. And the only infrastructure cost a new rail line to Orangeburg. And of course job creation in Orangeburg, an area that is starving for jobs.

I wonder if Mayor Summey knew then what he knows now if he would have kept the armored vehicle in the garage. But perhaps he didn't know the Daniel Island port would get scuttled, despite the fact SPA had already bought the land and paid for those big ramps off of I-526, and despite the fact that Daniel Island homeowners signed in their closing documents acknowledgment that SPA was going to build a port on the Island (this I only know from others who told me as much).

By the way, Gary Pruitt resubmitted his proposal to the Army Corps as a proposed alternative to the Charleston Naval Base site but it wasn't even included in the final analysis (yet development of Daniel Island was). It is all strange.

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Orangeburg is most CERTAINLY in need of the jobs, especially in the eastern part of the county, where I-26 and I-95 intersect. Furthermore, that might help to spur some development there; for a major interstate intersection, that area is rather barren.

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...But perhaps he didn't know the Daniel Island port would get scuttled, despite the fact SPA had already bought the land and paid for those big ramps off of I-526, and despite the fact that Daniel Island homeowners signed in their closing documents acknowledgment that SPA was going to build a port on the Island (this I only know from others who told me as much).

By the way, Gary Pruitt resubmitted his proposal to the Army Corps as a proposed alternative to the Charleston Naval Base site but it wasn't even included in the final analysis (yet development of Daniel Island was). It is all strange.

If there is one thing that makes me angry about Daniel Island residents, it is their insolent behavior and political goading they used to kill the Global Gateway terminal on the island. I also understood that many residents signed a contract indicating they were aware of the terminal before purchasing their land and house. Yet, they insisted on protesting the port project, thereby hurting the potential for port business and other businesses to grow and relocate there. Rumor has it that Home Depot's distribution center was to originally be built in Chas, but moved to Savannah when the terminal project was cancelled.

This is another clear indication of how some neighborhoods in the Chas area have way too much power. Their NIMBY mindset might have set Chas' port back a few years. When are people going to learn that if you live in a city, there will be other developments built around your living area?

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