S.C. Ports Authority reports record volume for FY2017

Upstate Business Journal ^ | July 12, 2017 | Trevor Anderson

[buckalfa]

South Carolina’s port traffic reached an all-time high during the 2017 fiscal year.

The state Ports Authority (SCPA) on Wednesday reported it moved a record 2.14 million 20-foot equivalent units between July 2016 and June 2017, a 10 percent increase compared with the previous year.

SCPA said the volume at its Inland Port in Spartanburg County near Greer finished the year having completed a record 121,761 rail moves, a 33 percent increase compared with fiscal year 2016.

“We had a strong fiscal year, reflective of a capable and hardworking SCPA team and entire maritime community,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of SCPA, in a statement. “Such growth enables the port to continue to make the necessary investments in equipment and infrastructure to support the big ships being deployed to the East Coast today.”

According to a study by the American Association of Port Authorities, the Port of Charleston ranked first among the country’s top 10 ports in terms of the percentage of volume grow between 2011 and 2016.

A spokeswoman for SCPA said the authority expects to continue growing during the 2018 fiscal year.

In June, the authority’s board adopted a financial plan for the coming year that projects 6 percent pier container growth, $251.1 million in operating revenues, $44.1 million in operating earnings, and $263 million in capital expenditures.

Those expenditures include $54 million for construction of the Hugh K. Leatherman terminal, $86.3 million in upgrades to the Wando Welch Terminal, $32.2 million for the construction of the state’s second inland port in Dillon County, $23.3 million for the construction of SCPA’s new corporate office, and other projects.

The Hugh K. Leatherman terminal will be completed in 2020. Inland Port Dillon will open in the spring of 2018, the authority said.

“The Port’s FY2018 financial plan reflects continued success of our state port system, both in volume growth and progress of key capital markets,” said SCPA’s chairwoman Pamela Lackey, in a statement. “This fiscal year will be an extremely significant period for the port, marking the beginning of harbor deepening construction, completion of the Wando terminal wharf project, and continued construction of the Leatherman terminal. We are well-positioned to build upon South Carolina’s economic development successes and remain competitive in the evolving landscape of the U.S. port industry.”

A 2015 study by the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business said port operations generate $53 billion in annual economic activity and support 187,600 jobs statewide.

In the Upstate, port operations have a $26.8 billion economic impact and support 94,500 jobs, the study said.

[buckalfa]

Winning. Jobs and investment. All good. Yet the Port Authority is a quasi state governmental agency which operates not only on revenues it generates in fees but also on borrowing backed by the state government. Do Freepers believe that such agencies are an appropriate function of government or should I cling to my old belief that this is corporate welfare and therefore is bad.

[dangus]

The general sense is that this is a result of manufacturing jobs moving to SC?

[DiogenesLamp]

S.C. Ports Authority reports record volume for FY2017

I thought this would amuse you.

:)

[Conan the Librarian]

If they try hard enough, they might catch up to Savannah.

(ducks...runs away!)

[texas booster]

By definition ports need both federal and state oversight. Just the type of this mentioned in the constitution.

Who pays for it all, what taxes are levied and whose geese are ultimately cooked is why citizens get to raise their pitchforks, if cronyism becomes too blatant. Tis true if it is corporations or unions involved.

Thanks for the article. I am scouting locations on the East Coast to build a small distribution system, and this makes SC more competitive than I had previously considered.

[buckalfa]

"If they try hard enough, they might catch up to Savannah."

Yep, Savannah is what little remains of the Old South, in a Midnight In The Garden way.

[Iscool]

“Such growth enables the port to continue to make the necessary investments in equipment and infrastructure to support the big ships being deployed to the East Coast today.”

The article doesn't say whether this growth is the result of more container ships coming in from China and around the world or from goods leaving the U.S...I'd bet it's the former...

[BroJoeK]

DL: "S.C. Ports Authority reports record volume for FY2017."
I thought this would amuse you."

According to this list, Charleston ranks 34th among US ports, and 19th among Southern US ports.
So it's good to see vigorous growth there, but still, they have a long way to go to become the new, New York.

Btw, today New York ranks third, behind New Orleans and Houston.