By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

The Port of Charleston never rebounded from a steep decline in cargo volume in 2007, but S.C. State Ports Authority officials see hope on the horizon in the form of a new terminal at the former Charleston Naval Base and the planned addition of more than 20 million square feet of warehousing and distribution space in the region over the next decade.

For the year, the Port of Charleston handled the equivilent of 1.75 million 20-foot-long contianers, down 11% from the equivilent of 1.97 million 20-foot-containers it handled in 2006. 

The Port of Savannah, which saw a 20.6% gain in cargo volume last year, now appears to be the nation’s fifth-busiest port, according to incomplete statistics provided by industry analysts.

Ports authority officials have long attributed the decline in container volume to long delays in SPA’s plan to expand. But with preliminary work on the new Navy base terminal now under way, it appears shipping lines are responding to the authority’s commitment to add new capacity.

Last week, the Grand Alliance of shipping lines announced that they will begin calling on Charleston with ships that can carry the equivalent of 4,000 20-foot-long containers, compared to the 2,800 20-foot-long container capacity of the ships now on their North Atlantic service.

The new three-berth, $600 million terminal at the Navy base will be capable of handling up to 1 million additional containers annually once it opens for business in 2013.

In the meantime, while container volumes fell, break bulk volume in 2007 increased by 18% over 2006 numbers to 649,000 tons. Break bulk is loose cargo, such as cartons, that is stowed directly in a ship’s hold as opposed to containerized cargo.