Smith, Cameron Outline Port Challenges

FEB. 8, 2011: If you look at the hard, stark differences between the ports of Charleston and Savannah, it should be as plain as the nose on your face which offers a better access over time to the new super cargo ships that have already started arriving: the Charleston port.

That’s the message brought to Rotarians by longtime waterfront leader Whit Smith and John Cameron, executive director of the Charleston Branch Pilots’ Association.

In the simplest of terms, it will cost about $200 million to $300 million to deepen the Charleston harbor and approach to 48 feet to accommodate cargo ships that eventually will carry the equivalent of 5,000 40-foot containers. But just to get the Savannah to the depth currently offered by Charleston’s port would cost $600 million – and that would only offer one-way traffic in and out of the Savannah port. (Interestingly, environmental mitigation to advance Savannah’s dredging plan would cost $200 million – almost the full cost of what it would take to upgrade Charleston’s port completely, Smith said.)

For now, however, what stands in the way of Charleston’s deepening moving forward is a $400,000 federal study that requires federal – not local or state – money. The only way to get federal money is through a congressional earmark, which is not likely to happen with major opposition by U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, or by President Obama including the project in his budget. There’s not, as Smith said, a quick fix. “It comes down to political clout,” he said.

Smith and Cameron also offered several interesting facts about the port:

– Pilots here guided 4,200 ships into the harbor in 2010, a drop of 1,000 trips compared to 2005.

– The association is home to 20 pilots, 11 boat captains, five radio dispatchers and three other staff members. It has two 75-foot pilot boats and a 40-foot shuttle launch.

– A current “supership” that can dock in Charleston is capable of 8,500 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent containers). A recent ship was 1,164 feet long, 143 feet wide and had a depth draw of 48 feet. “This will be the norm in the next two or three years,” Smith said.

– Three problems with the plan to alter Savannah harbor now: (a) the channel isn’t long enough; (b) the proposed plan doesn’t offer a wide enough channel to accommodate two-way traffic; and (c) the proposed channel route infringes on an exclusionary LNG (liquefied natural gas) safety zone that ships aren’t supposed to enter.

– Of the ports in the Southeast coast (Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville), Charleston is best positioned with the deepest harbor now, Cameron said. Last year, for example, the Charleston port accommodated 57 ships that were too deep for Savannah, he said.

Submitted by Andy Brack, Keyway Committee