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CaroLinks announces $250 million intermodal project
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
Carolina Linkages, also known as CaroLinks, a supply chain and logistics provider, has revealed plans to create the only stand-alone integrated intermodal transportation and distribution network serving the Port of Charleston.
Addressing the need to support the Port of Charleston’s planned growth with added capacity in ground transportation and warehousing services, CaroLinks will introduce barge, rail and highway linkages tied to strategically located warehousing and distribution centers.
Lucy Duncan-Scheman, CaroLinks’ founder and CEO, said the company has already acquired options on 85 acres at Shipyard Creek, located directly adjacent to the former Charleston Naval Base, as the first part of a $250 million development.
The company is currently evaluating options on at least two more sites in South Carolina, including 800 acres in Orangeburg near the site for the South Carolina World Trade Center’s planned World Trade Park and Education Research Project.
Up to 200 new jobs will be created across the state, as well as strategic linkages to other intermodal sites in the Midwest and southeastern states.
“With international trade growing at unprecedented rates,” Duncan-Scheman said, “U.S. consumers must rely on efficient, environmentally-sound management of freight into and out of our nation’s largest ports. The demand for additional port capacity on the East Coast is enormous.”
Pointing to North Carolina’s recent announcement to build a major new port facility, Duncan-Scheman said, “As capacity dramatically increases in both ships and ports, the nation’s highway and rail infrastructure are hard-pressed to keep up—a burden that federal, state and local governments are grappling with.
“I want to stress that CaroLinks is committed to South Carolina’s competitiveness and is committed to investing here to ensure sustainable ground solutions now and for the future.”
CaroLinks plans to move containers by barge from the Wando Terminal and by rail from the proposed Navy Base Terminal to its new facilities at Shipyard Creek and to various inland distribution centers. These operations are expected to reduce truck traffic significantly on Interstate 526.
“We expect to be a magnet for new and expanded business opportunities for companies supporting the port now and to be a catalyst for significant employment opportunities across the state where they are most needed, said Duncan-Scheman.
“We have been particularly attracted by the training incentives offered by Orangeburg, which will ensure a well-prepared employee base is ready to support CaroLinks and our customers.”
The company moved its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Charleston last June. The move reflected the importance of the Port of Charleston’s position on the southeastern seaboard, as well as the area’s location as a hub for CaroLink’s expanding range of activities in maritime trade.
Duncan-Scheman has assembled a management team to build the company’s operations in South Carolina. Among the recent appointments are Charleston real estate executive Hagood Morrison as senior vice president of business development and Kenneth “Marty” Crosby, one of Charleston’s best known port operations figures, as vice president of field operations.
“This project is such a win-win-win for the Lowcountry, the Midlands and the Piedmont,” said Duncan-Scheman.
“Virtually everyone we have met with has provided so much good advice and assistance that this project truly already belongs to everyone in the state. Rarely have I seen people get behind a new idea and support it so vigorously. We welcome the help and look forward to building CaroLinks together.”
Groundbreaking on the Shipyard Creek facility is planned for this summer. The anticipated completion date is fall 2008.
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