Officials: Harbor Deepening Is Essential

CHARLESTON — Overlooking the channel from the Atlantic Ocean to Charleston's port facilities, local and state officials held a press conference Tuesday at the Charleston Maritime Center to announce a new push to get federal funding for work needed to upgrade Charleston Harbor for larger, post-Panamax ships.

"The deepening of the Port of Charleston is one of the most important civil projects facing us today," Sen. Larry Grooms said. "As ships get larger our port facilities have to get larger."

Grooms was among seven political and business and labor leaders who spoke during the afternoon press conference on the importance of getting the project done. He also read statements from fellow lawmakers Sen. Glen McConnell and Rep. Chip Campsen, who were not able to attend the event.

"The Charleston Harbor deepening makes the most environmental sense and return on investment," Grooms said, reading from a letter written by McConnell. "Charleston is the best, if not the only option for a true post-Panamax port in the Southeastern United States. I hope that the Federal government would move quickly to give all approval and funding necessary for the deepening of the Charleston Harbor."

Calling it "the most significant issue for our state's well being that I can recall," McConnell's letter noted that the port of Charleston is intimately connected to the jobs and livelihoods of more than 260,000 workers across South Carolina, roughly 11 percent of the state's workforce.

Supporters of the push also note that the port is used heavily by businesses in South Carolina's five closest Southeastern neighbors including Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. And the Charleston area's economic impact extends beyond the region to 20,000 businesses in two dozen states, according to information provided by the S.C. State Ports Authority.

SPA CEO Jim Newsome called the project the "most strategic priority we have for the city, the state and the entire Southeast region." He noted that by the end of 2014 there will be as many post-Panamax size ships plying the shipping routes as there are smaller cargo ships that wouldn't need a deeper port of call.

The push to deepen the harbor from the current depth of 45 feet to 50 or 51 feet is in response to upgrades being made to the Panama Canal that will allow larger cargo vessels with a 48-foot draft to pass through the canal. Currently ships that large can only enter Charleston's harbor during high tide when there is enough water to allow a couple feet of clearance between the ships' hulls and the harbor floor.

The project has an estimated price tag of $300 million, according to Newsome. The state, including the SPA, would be responsible for 60 percent of the cost while the federal government would chip in the other 40 percent. However the first step is commissioning a Army Corps of Engineers study to determine the scope of the project, which would account for about $20 million of the total price.

Newsome said the state hopes to get federal funding for that study, which will cost between $4 million and $5 million, in to President Barack Obama's 2012 budget proposal.

"We need to somehow get into the Army Corps of Engineers' workplan for 2012 because we've passed the time of the budget, we're optimistic to be able to do that," Newsome said. "And then we need on an ongoing basis to get in the president's budget. We're in a no earmark era today and we've got to get into the president's budget as a meritorious project because again, everybody wants their harbor deepened and not everyone is going to get deepened, so the key to success is to routinely get in the president's budget year over year for the entire length of the project."

Newsome said officials are hopeful that environmental studies performed prior to the project to bring the harbor to its current depth in 2004 will allow the Corps to speed up the process of funding the new deepening project. Such studies typically take as many as 10 years, he said, however because of all the work that was done prior to the 2004 deepening the Corps is envisioning a five- to seven-year timeline.

Newsome also noted that the entire cost of the Charleston project, $300 million, is the same amount a similar deepening project along the Savannah River would spend just on environmental mitigation. The cost of the entire Savannah Port project is more than double the cost of the Charleston deepening at more than $700 million, he said.



Meanwhile the SPA has adopted a $1.3 billion 10-year capital plan to improve the land side port facilities to handle the larger post-Panamax ships, the only missing component is approval and funding for the making the harbor deeper.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley also spoke during the press conference and noted statewide support for the project. Riley said he set letters to mayors across the state asking them to support the project and received more than 100 letters in reply from towns and cities all over the state whose residents rely on the port to some degree for their employment.

"A deepened harbor means that manufacturers, suppliers, distributors are more competitive in the worldwide economic competition in which we are engaged," Riley said. "Deepening Charleston Harbor means jobs for the citizens of South Carolina throughout our state."

He added that Charleston Harbor is the most cost effective to deepen and maintain because of it's close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally when the harbor was upgraded in 2004, not only was the channel made deeper, it was also made wider, which Riley characterized as foresight, and makes getting the massive container ships in and out of the port facilities easier and more time efficient.

The Port of Savannah by contrast is much further inland and requires ships to follow a long narrow channel before reaching the port.

"It is part of a national agenda," Riley said. "President Obama has called for doubling our nation's exports. Obviously doubling our exports means substantially increasing the jobs of people who are manufacturing and assembling and distributing American made goods to be shipped and sold and competed with around the world."

Riley added that during the times he has met with Obama he has stressed the importance of a globally competitive Port of Charleston to the president's goals of increasing imports and employment.

"There are more exporters in the Southeastern part of the United States than any other region of our country," Riley said. "So for our exporters to have the competitive advantage and for our national goal of doubling exports the deepening of Charleston Harbor fulfills a very important national purpose as well."

SCSPA is hosting a Public Scoping workshop-style meeting, 5:30 p.m. tonight, at Mark Clark Hall on the campus of The Citadel to provide more information about the project.