By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

James Micali, chairman and president of Michelin North America, said public officials from South Carolina and Georgia had taken an “excellent first step” toward developing a new cargo container terminal in Jasper County.

But now, he said, it’s time to develop a viable business case for the plan. Bringing a “fact-based business rationale” to bear in the planning of the proposed terminal is the only way to ensure that a productive, efficient facility is the end result, he said.

The keynote address put a local spin on the Port Productivity Conference presented by Cargo Business News and held at the Charleston Area Convention Center in April. The annual event drew about 250 port officials from across the country.

In making his case, Micali, one of the state’s most important business leaders, lauded the leadership of the S.C. State Ports Authority, and said the effective and efficient management of the Port of Charleston has played a significant role in the tiremaker’s success since it opened its Greenville facility in 1973.

In spite of his high opinion of the SPA’s management, Micali stopped short of saying the authority alone should operate the proposed Jasper County facility.

“I can’t tell you what a Jasper County port needs to look like, but I can tell you that we seriously need to examine what we want that port to be,” he said.

Questions need to be asked, he said, such as: Is it justified? Who will pay for it? Will it be a public facility or a public/private partnership? Will it be independent or part of a regional marketing effort?

“We need a full and fair vetting of the pros and cons of those items to make sure the proposed terminal comes out the right way,” Micali said. “The sooner the business case can get settled, the sooner we can build it.”

The heavy lifting begins

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue last year reached an agreement to jointly develop a new cargo container terminal on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River and put aside years of litigation over the 1,800-acre site.

The land is owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation and has for years been used as a disposal site for dredged material by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The plan calls for the property to be transferred to a joint Jasper County project office, overseen by a board comprised of port officials and business people from both states. That board met for the first time last month and the transfer is expected to occur before summer.

“Now the real heavy lifting begins,” Micali said, recalling Michelin’s experience in the state.

Michelin came to South Carolina in 1973 because the state offered good land, a hardworking work force trained in manufacturing through its involvement with the textile industry, an excellent highway system and a port with an international reputation for efficiency, he said.

Michelin transports roughly 21,000 20-foot cargo containers through the Port of Charleston annually, two-thirds of which are imports, Micali said.

“As a result, we recognize just how vital the productivity of the port is to our business,” he said. “In fact, our global footprint is tied to the Port of Charleston.”

And the port is expected to get busier in the years ahead, despite a marked slowdown in imports passing through Charleston as a result of the faltering economy.

Micali said while the port is currently handling in excess of 1.7 million 20-foot cargo containers a year, industry projections call for the volume of cargo containers to increase by an average of 4% a year over the next 20 years.

Capacity needs a driver

In light of those needs, Micali said he’s delighted by the development of the new $600 million three-berth terminal at the former Charleston Naval Base and some minor terminal expansions the SPA has undertaken at its Wando, Columbus Street and North Charleston terminals.

However, despite these steps, Micali predicted that this additional capacity will sustain the state’s need for more space for cargo for only four or five years after the 2013 opening date of the first phase of the Navy base terminal.

“Most who have looked at the problem agree, you will need additional long-term capacity. That is why the concept of a Jasper County terminal is a good one,” he said. “We have to ensure that this is done in a way that benefits everyone.”

Bernard S. Groseclose Jr., SPA president and CEO, said developing any terminal is a decade-long proposition. The kind of analysis Micali called for would have to be an early priority.

“I think James Micali’s comments today put everyone on notice that there’s a long way to go and there are a lot of questions to be answered before we have a terminal on that site,” he said.

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

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