Govs. Mark Sanford and Sonny Perdue forged a rare, bi-state partnership to jointly build and operate a massive shipping terminal on the Savannah River. (Photo by Dan McCue)

A bi-state commission charged with hammering out a definitive plan for a new cargo terminal in Jasper County held its first informal meeting in March, almost one year to the day after the governors of South Carolina and Georgia agreed to work together to improve their respective state’s position in the global marketplace.

And while this meeting of the Jasper Ocean Terminal Joint Project Office may signal the beginning of the development of the terminal, there’s still a long, long way to go before cargo containers begin to be lifted off ships and placed on a dock on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.

“Efforts are under way (to build a terminal) in Jasper County, but I think what people have to understand is that, just as in the case of our new terminal at the former Charleston Naval Base, a lot of soft, behind-the-scenes steps have to be taken before you even start the permitting process,” said Bernard S. Groseclose Jr., president and CEO of the S.C. State Ports Authority.

Last November, a little more than six months after announcing they were trying to work out a unique economic development deal regarding land Georgia owns in South Carolina, Govs. Mark Sanford and Sonny Perdue announced they’d forged a rare, bi-state partnership to jointly build and operate a massive shipping terminal.

The deal — which then had to be approved by their respective legislatures — calls for the creation of a port on 1,400 acres of undeveloped land that now serves as a dump site for dredged spoil material.

The compact establishes both states’ ports authorities as co-tenants of the new terminal. Both ports authorities will split the $7 million price tag for the land and will each contribute an additional $3 million for the creation of an office that will obtain permits and figure out how to pay for needed roads, rail and utilities.

The Joint Project Office was created by the Intergovernmental Agreement as a six-member board, three from each state, to conduct the organizational and management groundwork. The board consists of longtime ports veterans and businessmen and the chairman of the office alternates between state officials.

Its members include Jim Balloun, the retired chairman of Acuity Brands Inc., who serves as its chairman; Alec Poitevint, Georgia Republican Party chairman; Steve Green, Georgia Ports Authority chairman; Bill Stern, S.C. State Ports Authority vice chairman; Bill Bethea, former S.C. Ports Authority chairman; and Tom Davis, a former S.C. Ports Authority board member who recently stepped down from his post as Gov. Sanford’s chief of staff to run for a state Senate seat.

Among the first duties of the Joint Project Office, which scheduled its first formal session for April 14, is petitioning the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release easements held on the land that allow the corps to use it as a spoil site.

The deal also set in motion a series of events in which construction could begin within five years on property known as the Jasper Ocean Terminal, with actual cargo passing through it in 10 years.

Also on the Joint Project Office’s agenda are a progress report on the formal transfer of ownership of the land from the Georgia Department of Transportation to the Joint Project Office and devising a framework and schedule for its future meetings and work tasks.

While there aren’t any projections on the economic impact of the Jasper Port yet, the new facility certainly “will mean benefits for Georgia, South Carolina and the entire Southeastern United States for generations to come,” said Perdue during a press conference held outside the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center.

“Sonny and I wanted to come together today to plant another stake in the ground to underscore how important this effort is,” Sanford said.