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Ports of contention: Savannah turns its attention to infrastructure
Charleston presses ahead on Navy base plan
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
Doug J. Marchand, the Georgia Ports Authority’s executive director, recently outlined in a written statement the steps he believes are necessary to continue to grow the Port of Savannah.
“The number one priority for the ports authority is the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project,” he said. “This harbor-deepening project is not only critical to the industries along the river, but to the future vitality and staying power of our economy.”
The environmental studies, mitigation modeling and economic analysis required for the deepening will be complete and ready for public comment early next year, Marchand said.
Also, port-related growth was no longer confined to the docks and required a new approach, he said.
“As our business has grown exponentially, it has also changed,” he explained. “The maritime industry is the transportation industry. Improving productivity means working with our elected officials and the local, state and federal agencies responsible for reliable, efficient infrastructure necessary to get your products to the marketplace.”
Marchand also outlined a series of “last-mile projects,” which he said are “road, rail and bridge projects that must be completed to move cargo those last critical miles to and from the waterfront. (These) projects must be completed if we hope to keep the supply chain and supply of new jobs and economic opportunities flowing our way.”
How can the Port of Charleston keep pace with such an aggressive competitor?
The short answer is by moving forward with the Navy base terminal, said Byron Miller, spokesman for the S.C. State Ports Authority.
The SPA expects to receive the final
environmental impact statement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in December and to have the project fully permitted and underway by April, he said.
Toward that end the SPA board recently approved a $3.4 million contract with engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol to begin design work related to prepping the site for terminal construction.
But as it awaits regulatory approvals on the base site, the SPA must continue to do “the right things” to maintain its competitive momentum, Miller said.
“We have kept pace and done so by being more efficient, flexible and hungry than the other guy,” Miller said. “There’s no reason to believe we can’t continue to do that while waiting for the Navy base terminal to come online.
“The problem with some of the statements that come from (SSA Marine, which is working with Jasper County on the site) over the Jasper County situation is that it doesn’t do anything but poison the atmosphere and sends a signal to the industry that there’s a lack of support for our efforts here.”
Of course, Port of Charleston advocates contend there’s a lot to counterbalance those statements.
For example, more than 400 companies in the tri-county region are engaged in some way in moving cargo to and from the port’s terminals, and the most recent analysis by Charleston Southern University’s Center for Economic Forecasting shows that the Port of Charleston continues to have an annual economic impact of more than $3.3 billion.
“The problem is, missed opportunities are hard to measure,” Miller said, his thoughts once again turning to the delayed terminal expansion. “How many jobs haven’t been created in the years we haven’t been building? How many new opportunities have been missed? And more to the point, how many of those jobs and opportunities have gone to places like Savannah?
“That’s why I think it’s important people understand what we’re asking for in light of the nature of the competition we face. You know, the other thing is, if you look at the trend in foreign investment in South Carolina, there appears to be a direct correlation with increased port volume. As the volume has gone up, the investment has gone up. So as we see stagnation, that’s a concern.”
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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