Issue link: https://jocdigital.uberflip.com/i/564044
2015 SOUTH CAROLINA LOGISTICS SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE A s the shipping and logistics industries continue see the deployment of large ships to create efficiencies, the South Carolina Ports Authority is poised to deliver the capacity and deep water necessary to continue handling the largest ships calling on the East Coast. Now, several years into a $1.3 billion capital plan to modernize its harbor, terminals and inland infrastructure, SCPA volumes continue growing above the market average. SCPA offers reliability and is the most efficient — and only — deep-water port in the U.S. Southeast. SOON TO BE THE DEEPEST EAST COAST PORT The Army Corps of Engineers is conducting the preconstruction, engineering and design phase of the Charleston Harbor deepening project. Upon completion, the harbor will improve from its current depth of 45 feet (47 feet at its entrance channel) to 52 feet. In addition, the port continues to develop its new Navy Base container terminal, and companies in the Southeast and beyond continue utilizing South Carolina ports to move their goods. With the deepest shipping channels in its competitive region today, Charleston has become the South Atlantic hub for big ships. Shipping lines have shifted their post-Panamax assets into their east-west trades, utilizing the larger Suez Canal in order to take advantage of economies of scale. Carriers seeking to maximize the efficiencies of bigger assets have demonstrated that they will build their supply chains around unrestricted vessel access. SCPA already handles 11 post- Panamax vessels each week. With 45 feet of depth at mean low water, Charleston is the only port in the region capable of handling ships drafting 43 feet or greater, and the port can handle vessels drafting up to 48 feet, with the help of the tides. The completion of the Panama Canal expansion and raising of New Jersey's Bayonne Bridge will soon attract even more big ships to the Charleston docks. South Carolina Ports Authority is preparing its Charleston facilities for the influx of bigger ships with a next- generation harbor-deepening project that will be completed by the end of the decade. Approved plans include deepening Charleston Harbor to 52 feet and the $1.3 Million Capital Plan Positions SCPA for BIG-SHIP ERA SEPTEMBER 7.2015 56 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com