Bi-state task force meets to start Jasper Terminal process

Page 2 of 2 In recent years, both the S.C. State Ports Authority and the Georgia Ports Authority have invested billions of dollars to upgrade their respective terminals in Charleston and Savannah. But officials from both states now concede that even if they could quickly fulfill all their long-term growth goals, they’d still be unable to keep up with surging trade volumes from China, India and other parts of the world. In the past year, when other U.S. ports were reporting decreases in the number of containers that cross their docks, Savannah has seen double-digit increases, thanks largely to its efforts to serve China’s import market. Charleston has been focusing its marketing efforts on India and on capturing trade most often ferried by the largest of cargo ships that flows through the Suez Canal. The deal officially ended litigation over South Carolina’s condemnation of the Georgia-owned property. Jasper County had long been seen as a potential site for a container terminal, but it was considered a relatively low priority — well below the respective expansions of the ports of Charleston and Savannah until about seven years ago, when Jasper County officials initiated discussions with a private company, SSA Marine of Seattle, about establishing a terminal on the site. When the Georgia Department of Transportation refused to sell the land — just a sliver of the 10,000 acres it owns in Jasper County — Jasper condemned it. Then, in 2005, with plans to build a massive “Global Gateway” on Daniel Island dashed and the permitting for an alternative site at the former Charleston Naval Base slow to materialize, the S.C. State Ports Authority began to secure the Jasper County site. In April 2007, a state Supreme Court judge ruled that South Carolina has first rights to condemn the land. Two months later, Sanford and Perdue announced they’d brokered a deal for the port. While the ports authorities work on permitting and infrastructure, the two state legislatures will work to ratify a more detailed agreement of how the states will run the port and share in its revenues. Congress will then have to ratify the interstate compact. The first phase of the project is expected to cost about $600 million. Sanford said he hopes the office overseeing the construction of the terminal will work with private maritime companies to defray some of those construction costs. The state of Georgia has already indicated that it would be willing to sell any portion of the remaining 8,500 acres it owns to the joint terminal office to facilitate infrastructure development, and the owner of about 3,600 acres directly north of that land also has indicated he would sell all or part of his holdings for the same purpose. Groseclose didn’t predict when the permitting on the Jasper County terminal will begin in earnest, but did say it likely wouldn’t be until sometime after the first phase of the new Navy Base terminal opens in 2013. “But we are not going to wait and just start the clock on Jasper once that (terminal) gets full,” he said. “Between now and then, we’re going to do market studies and whatever other work needs to be done on a site basis in advance of a formal application for the permit.” << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>