Buildings being razed after years of neglect. Read the rest of this entry »

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Progress on the Port of Charleston’s Navy Base Terminal has reached another milestone with today’s approval of the next major construction project.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) Board today approved the $42.7-million contract, which includes the placement of fill material on portions of the landside of the terminal and along the already completed 5,000-foot-long containment wall structure, which was constructed toward the shipping channel. The facility represents the only permitted new container terminal currently under construction on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.

“The completion of the Navy Base Terminal, along with the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project, demonstrates that South Carolina understands what the industry’s future demands are, and we will be ready to meet them,” said Bill Stern, chairman of the SCPA Board. “The new terminal and a deepened harbor are both essential to fulfill our mission of economic development and serve our customers’ needs for the foreseeable future.”

The Board selected for the project Massachusetts-based Jay Cashman, which was the lead contractor on the demolition of the former Cooper River bridges, as well as one of the partners on the $44-million containment wall project for the Navy Base Terminal.

Starting next month, crews will relocate approximately 1.75 million cubic yards of dredged material from Daniel Island to the terminal site by water, placing the fill behind the containment structure and on portions of the upland area. The crews also will consolidate the upland area of the site by installing approximately 5.7 million linear feet of vertical wick drains and surcharging the area to stabilize the site and prepare it for construction.

The project is expected to run through January 2014, overlapping with the next major fill contract, which is slated to begin late next year. At build out, the new, 280-acre container terminal will increase the Port of Charleston’s container capacity by 50 percent.

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Container volume in the Port of Charleston rose 9.2 percent in February compared to the same month last year, in results announced today at the regular meeting of the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) Board of Directors.

Charleston handled 119,052 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month, representing a 5.8 percent climb in container volume over the month of January, largely on the strength of loaded exports.

“We are experiencing a very balanced trade between import and export containers, which is a credit to the companies in South Carolina and across the Southeast that are competing well in the global marketplace,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCPA.

Additionally, Charleston was one of only two of the nation’s top 10 container ports that experienced a rise in inbound cargo in February, according to trade intelligence company Zepol Corporation.

Volume for the fiscal year to date (July 2011 through February 2012) remained relatively flat, with a 0.9 percent increase over the same period last fiscal year.

At the same time, the SCPA’s non-container business segment in Charleston and Georgetown showed double and triple-digit gains.

Breakbulk volume in Charleston, which totaled 62,680 tons, rose 41.9 percent last month over February 2011 while pier tons in the Port of Georgetown increased nearly fourfold to 74,083 pier tons. Total breakbulk volume last month at the two ports was more than double the volume handled February of last year.

With increased demand in the SCPA’s non-container business, the SCPA Board authorized the agency to proceed with contract negotiations with Charleston Heavy Lift on the construction of a new, barge-mounted heavy lift crane. The new crane would be used exclusively in the Port of Charleston in handling oversized and overweight project cargo across the docks, and the SCPA would contribute up to $2.5 million to the project for dedicated access over the life of the crane.

The SCPA completed approximately $23 million in upgrades to Columbus Street Terminal to handle its non-container business, including vehicles such as BMWs made in South Carolina and heavy project cargo requiring on-dock rail.

Additionally, the Board approved a $525,000 contract for maintenance berth dredging at Veterans Terminal, a 110-acre non-container facility at the Port of Charleston located on the former Navy Base site.

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With today’s call of the OOCL California, an alliance of ocean carriers is upsizing its vessels calling the Port of Charleston.

The Grand Alliance, which includes Hapag-Lloyd, NYK and OOCL, has upgraded its Atlantic Express Service (ATX), a North Europe container service that calls North Charleston Terminal on a weekly basis. The service has deployed four larger, post-Panamax vessels with capacity of 5,400 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in place of Panamax ships.

Charleston is the last U.S. port outbound on the service, signaling the importance of Southeast exports to the trade.

“Charleston is a natural gateway to North Europe, given the businesses with European ties that have established in South Carolina,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority.

Charleston leads the European market among South Atlantic ports, with approximately 36 percent of the port’s container volume associated with North Europe. Additionally, the port’s deep shipping channels – the deepest in the region today – allow more capability for post-Panamax calls.

“Large vessels are not only being deployed in the trade between Asia and the U.S. East Coast,” Newsome said. “This represents the second carrier grouping to deploy post-Panamax container vessels in the trade between the U.S. and North Europe. When cargo operations are finished later today, this vessel will sail with a draft too deep to be accommodated in any other South Atlantic port.”

The 5,400-TEU OOCL California will sail for Rotterdam, followed by calls in Hamburg, Le Havre and Southampton. Zim, ACL and Hamburg Sud also participate in the ATX service.

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Upstate SC Alliance, the marketing engine behind the region’s collective economic development efforts, today released its year-end results for 2011, including more than $800 million in planned capital investments and the addition of more than 5,000 new jobs.

Long before the national economy started improving, this ten-county region has been on the move, attracting over 20,000 new jobs and over $5 billion in planned capital investment since 2007.

“We’ve forged a compelling strategy that has generated substantial benefits for our 10-county area,” said Upstate SC Alliance President/CEO Hal Johnson.  “This performance demonstrates the success of teamwork among our private and public partners in presenting the business case to companies around the globe on why locating in the Upstate is the right decision.”

In 2011, the Upstate SC Alliance increased their number of Upstate overview presentations to potential economic development decision-makers, hosted more company and site consultants in the region than any other year and attended more tradeshows/conferences in the history of the Alliance.

The organization also added Aerospace as a targeted industry for the Upstate based off of recent state-wide developments like Boeing in Charleston and the emerging cluster in the Upstate. This new focus area for the Alliance joins the other targeted industries, which are: Automotive, Advanced Materials, Biosciences and Energy.

“It is the role of the Alliance to position this region for success by global marketing this region with the intentions this will result in new jobs and capital investment,” said 2011 Upstate SC Alliance Chairman George Acker. “It is safe to say the organization is doing its’ job as evidenced by the increase in business development efforts and the recruitment of over 20,000 new jobs to the Upstate area over the last five years.”

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Dr. Bruce Yandle, Dean Emeritus at Clemson University, used a healthcare analogy to describe the United States’ current economic situation. Read the rest of this entry »

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The South Carolina Department of Commerce has issued their Economic Outlook for February 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

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Governor Nikki Haley and the South Carolina Department of Commerce gathered leaders from across South Carolina today for the 22nd annual South Carolina Rural Summit for a program that challenged attendees to improve local communities. Read the rest of this entry »

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BMW Becomes Largest U.S. Automotive Exporter to the World. Read the rest of this entry »

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Gov. Nikki Haley and the South Carolina Department of Commerce today launched a new service called South Carolina Business Network at SCBizNetwork.com. Read the rest of this entry »

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