By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

    It was a late night over dinner at the Peninsula Grill in downtown Charleston and the two businessmen, representatives of a major international company, were reviewing the experiences they had on their first joint trip to the Lowcountry.

“And just the other night, we were sitting at that table over there with the director of the port,” one said.

As it happened, throughout a series of very preliminary meetings in town, the duo was told they just had to meet with Bernard S. Groseclose Jr., president and CEO of the S.C. State Ports Authority, before they left town.

“They kept saying, ‘Make contact with Bernie from the port,’” the man continued, adopting the kind of The Godfather-meets-Goodfellas accent that makes the words “New Jersey” sound like “New Joisey.”

“The funny thing is, he turned out to be nothing like our expectation. In fact, he was immaculate in appearance,” the other man said.

“Best of all, he really gets it. He really understands that there’s more to operating a port than expansion; that sustainability matters too,” the first man continued.

“Good suits, though,” the other man said.

“That’s for sure,” his colleague replied.

Groseclose himself laughed when he heard the story recently, then quickly sidestepped any further discussion of what he clearly, good-humoredly took as his “alleged” sartorial elegance, and quickly cut to the heart of who he is.

“I’ve always been a person who’s hoped he’s lived up to his parents’ expectations,” he said. “Because that’s where it all started, isn’t it? That’s what makes you who you are.”

Now in his 23rd year with the SPA, Groseclose joined the organization at a time of change in 1985, and has presided over one of the nation’s premiere ports in flush times — during which cargo volumes and dockside productivity grew exponentially — and through days of controversy, such as when community activists blocked the SPA’s plan to build a massive global gateway on Daniel Island.

One of the port industry’s most recognized executives due to his longtime involvement with the International Association of Ports and Harbors and the board of the American Association of Port Authorities, Groseclose graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with a degree in business administration, and from the College of William and Mary with a master’s degree in business administration.

He began his business career with Rockwell International in Detroit where he crunched numbers and did strategic planning. Over the course of his six years with the company, he also moved a total of four times.

When the subject of a fifth move came up, a relocation that would have taken him to rural Indiana, Groseclose took it as a sign it was time to move on.

However, what that something else was wasn’t immediately clear.

Growing up in Virginia and West Virginia, Groseclose always had an inkling that he wanted to do something that meshed his interest in business with an interest in travel and things of an international nature.

His first step toward pursuing that goal after Rockwell was to look for a new opportunity on the East Coast, preferably someplace between Norfolk, Va., and Savannah, Ga. Settling in Charleston, Groseclose worked briefly as a commercial real estate agent, before stumbling upon a want ad that sounded oddly familiar.

“I don’t think there was a mention of the ports authority in the ad, but it described a new position that was being created that involved financial analysis and strategic planning, and frankly, sounded a lot like my resume,” he said.

Then-SPA President Don Welch hired him after his initial interview.

“The Port of Charleston needed to get away from the mindset of ‘We’re a port and a certain base of cargo is going to show up here because it’s coming to South Carolina, and we have our little defined hinterland,’ ” he said.

“People had experienced the realization that our hinterland was no longer distinct from that of Savannah or Norfolk or Wilmington, that there were a lot more crossovers regarding the geographical region we served and that something significant had changed in regard to what it took to compete in the industry. The same is true today. I mean, our economy has changed. Our population has changed. Society is different. And I don’t think people understand the connectivity of things the way they used to.”

In the past year, several entities, including Dubai-based Jafza International, Hillwood Properties, the Rockefeller Group and, most recently, World Trade City LLC, have staked claim to the creation of large distribution, logistics and manufacturing centers inland from the port.

Groseclose describes the activity as “the private sector confirming what we believe is happening.”

Despite an 11% decrease in cargo container volume through Charleston so far this fiscal year compared to last, everyone is betting on shipping industry projects that suggest cargo volumes through American’s ports will likely double in the next 15 years.

“The distribution center developers are not flush with cash and looking to throw money away,” Groseclose said. “They know about those projections, about the Panama Canal expansion and what’s happening with the Suez Canal and emerging trade routes from Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

“At the same time, two-thirds of the population lives east of the Mississippi and the Southeast is booming in terms of population growth,” he said. “Against that backdrop, I think the drop in volume is kind of like a temporary downtick on the stock market.”

But talk of planning brought one of Groseclose’s frustrations to mind: That some have suggested the SPA has tunnel vision and that it’s focused on only one thing: port expansion for port expansion’s sake.

“That’s not it at all,” he said. “Our mission is not to handle more TEUs. Like I said, it’s about creating a positive economic impact. That said, let me make clear that to me that’s not a standalone. Like anything in life, there has to be a balance. There are reasonable ways to accomplish port expansion, and environmentally friendly ways to do it.”

Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@scbiznews.com.

SUBSCRIBE | REPRINTS | CONTACT US

Phone: 843-849-3100    Fax: 843-849-3122