German roots run deep in South Carolina
GERMANY HAS THE MOST PREDOMINANT international business presence in South Carolina, with about 130 companies statewide. In all, almost 22,000 South Carolinians work for German-owned companies.
In the early days, most employees of German companies worked for textile machinery manufacturers. Today, the largest segment of those employees work for the transportation equipment sector (i.e. automotive and automotive parts), followed by the chemical and industrial machinery sectors. More than a third of the 22.000 German-company employees in South Carolina work for the transportation equipment sector.
The oldest German business in South Carolina is MECO Metal Finishing, which came to Rock Hill in 1897. Some of the more recognizable German companies operating in South Carolina are BMW, Robert Bosch, Hoechst Celanese, Lockwood Greene, Bayer Corporation and BASF Corp.
Germany is also the Port of Charleston's largest customer. South Carolina businesses shipped about $796 million in goods to Germany during 1997. When combined with air freight volume, South Carolina exports to Germany total more than $928 million in 1997, 216 percent higher than in 1995.