SC Ports Handles Container Volume Growth
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Sunday, December 17, 2017
South Carolina Ports Authority’s 2018 fiscal year container volume through November grew 2.5 percent compared to last year, with 886,414 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) handled by the Port of Charleston since July.
The Port moved 163,592 TEUs during the month of November, with a balanced mix of import and export cargo.
As measured in pier container volume, or the total number of boxes handled, the Port moved 92,329 containers in November. Fiscal year to date, SCPA has handled 502,063 pier containers, an increase of 2.9 percent over the same period last year.
Inland Port Greer handled 7,308 rail moves in November. With 49,482 rail moves handled to date in FY18, the facility’s growing volumes are 10.2 percent higher than last year.
In the non-containerized cargo segment, Charleston handled 60,386 breakbulk pier tons in November, including 18,202 finished vehicles.
“November volumes were moderate, as is seasonally typical for our port,” said SCPA president and CEO Jim Newsome. “From a calendar year perspective, our TEU volume is 9 percent ahead of last year. I expect SCPA will complete 2017 with nearly double-digit growth of TEU volumes as well as Inland Port Greer rail moves, which is a strong accomplishment. We’re concluding the year with significant progress achieved on the construction of our new headquarters as well as Inland Port Dillon, and look forward to the dredging of our harbor deepening project to begin in February.”