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Meeting capacity needs
Therein lies the challenge for the SPA: finding a way, even during a slow economy, to expand, preparing for a time when things will have bounced back.
“As the port continues to grow, we’re doing a lot of things to expand,” said Byron Miller, spokesman for the SPA. “We’re doing things today that we weren’t even thinking of 10 years ago, with technological advancements at the terminals.
We’re also buying new cranes and adding capacity at existing terminals. The final phase of the Wando-Welch Terminal is under way. These additional 50 acres will boost capacity in the near term.”
The technological advancements include a state-of-the-art yard management system with a proprietary information technology system that has improved trucker turn-time at the terminals dramatically. Getting the trucks in and out rapidly is one of the port’s critical success factors.
But the YMS and the capital improvement projects will get the Port of Charleston only partway to the additional capacity that the port’s customers have been waiting and watching for. The recent kickoff of the first phase of construction of the State Ports Authority’s newest container terminal signified a fulfillment of that long awaited promise of additional capacity.
At completion, the new terminal will boost capacity at the Port of Charleston by 50%, giving the SPA the ability to handle an additional 1.4 million TEUs per year.
“We believe this will satisfy the needs of the port as far as we can see, well into 2025,” Miller said.
The recent award of a $13.6 million contract to start converting 280 acres on the southern end of the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston into a container terminal includes improving roads, moving utility lines and constructing a retention pond. The work, which will be handled by Gulf Stream Construction Co., a subsidiary of The Beach Co., is expected to last about two years.
Miller said several components of the construction projects are already underway. In all, there are about 40 buildings and other above-ground support structures, as well as utilities, on the site. Phase I building demolition and site clearing began in September 2007, and Phase II was awarded in January 2008.
The cost is estimated at $425 million for site preparation, design and construction, plus $100 million for equipment. In spring 2008, the major site consolidation contract will be ready for board approval. That work is estimated at $180-200 million.
The 171-acre Phase I of the project includes 87 acres of container yard and 2,400 feet of berthing room over two ship berths. Construction of the storage yard and berth area will begin in 2010 following site prep work and is expected to open in October 2013.
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