Much of it's shipping was coastal packets bound for New York where the cargo was offloaded onto faster ocean going vessels.
It was way bigger than Charleston. That being said, with a 35-45% increase in profits for trade ships under the CSA, had the Union blockade not prevented trade, the vast majority of trade would have moved to Southern ports, and New Orleans would have seen a commensurate increase in trade due to it's greater importance in the overall trade system.
The Union was going to get it's trade eaten alive by the South but for Northern warships stopping that from happening.
Like I said, the Civil War was about money, not slavery. The Corwin amendment proves the North would continue to tolerate slavery, but they would never tolerate the cessation of their money streams.
Nonsence.
The Union was going to get it's trade eaten alive by the South
How? No ships, remember? And nobody to build them.
Who would have reaped that increase in profits? The growers? The cotton factor houses? The shipping companies? Who exactly?
Do you understand how a supply chain works? Let's take a look, just in case you don't.
“The average wholesale or distributor markup is 20%, although some go up as high as 40%...”
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/193986
Let's say that a manufacturer sells a product to the distributor for $100. The distributor sells it to the retailer for $125. The retailer adds a 50% markup, which means the final price is $250.
"...a 50 percent markup, known in the trade as keystone. What this means, in plain language, is doubling your cost to establish the retail price."
Who gets ripped off here?