SCPA to utilize barges to reduce trucking congestion
Elizabeth Landrum — American Shipper
South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) has developed a plan to reduce truck traffic on local highways by utilizing barges between Wando Welch Terminal and a new rail yard in North Charleston, according to local news source The Post and Courier.
Congestion along Interstates 26 and 526 and other roadways, paired with an aging trucking workforce, is slowing down cargo transport, said The Post and Courier.
SCPA's plan proposal would have imported cargo taken off ships and moved to the terminal's container yard before being placed on barges and hauled to a site near an intermodal rail yard being built by Palmetto Railways to be transported to the end destination by rail. Export cargo would follow the reverse route. According to SCPA, each barge would carry between 500 and 1,000 metal cargo boxes, eliminated that many trucks from the region's roadways.
The $130 million rail yard currently being built by Palmetto Railways is slated for opening in 2019 and will be served by CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern railroads, which already move about 25 percent of all cargo going to and from the Port of Charleston, The Post and Courier reported.
SCPA has applied to the federal Department of Transportation for a marine highway designation and expects to have a decision by the end of the year. If approved, the SCPA would be eligible for federal grants for the project, which doesn't yet have a price tag or completion date, said the report.
Federal funding is a priority for SCPA as the project fits new federal grant guidelines that require applicants to put up some of their own money to fund initiatives rather than rely solely on federal dollars. The SPA historically has leveraged its own money and state funds to supplement federal grants, according to the news source.
"The implication is you better have more than 50 percent in the game or you're not going to qualify," said Jim Newsome, the SPA's president and CEO. "The projects we're doing, we have a lot of skin in the game."
The plan also lines up with federal directives that grants be used for projects that support a larger initiative rather than stand-alone ventures, according to Barbara Melvin, the SPA's vice president of operations and terminals.
"They like to see how projects fit into an entire network," she said, adding the barges would complement other port activities, such as construction of a new container terminal on the former Navy Base and deepening Charleston Harbor.
"We have a lot of network investment going on," Melvin said. "All of it has to fit together for the investment to make sense."
A spokesperson for the South Carolina Ports Authority told American Shipper the barge project is still in the concept phase and that, as such, it would be "premature" to comment on it further.
SCPA recently broke cargo records for FY2017, which runs from June 30 to July 1. The port authority has opened a new reefer service area at the Port of Charleston and has made progress on Inland Port Dillon, which is slated for opening in 2018.
