Curtis Foltz has been saying it for years — it will take all of Savannah’s, Charleston’s and eventually Jasper’s port capacity to accommodate the containership traffic expected to head to the Southeast in the next several decades.
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” Foltz said in an interview in January 2010, just weeks after taking the helm of the Georgia Ports Authority. “We want to support and promote all our southeastern harbors.”
With 80 percent of the U.S. population living in the eastern half of the country and growth in the Southeast exploding, it only makes sense, he said.
“I have no doubt that, down the road, there is going to be a need to handle 6.5 million containers a year in Savannah, 6.5 million in Charleston and at least 6.5 million in Jasper. Commerce is going to dictate that, and the citizens of the U.S. deserve it.”
Now, after years of fighting GPA’s efforts to deepen its harbor and stalling on the issue of a new container port in Jasper County, it seems South Carolina is beginning to see the light — or, at least, face the inevitable.
The Journal of Commerce quotes South Carolina Ports Authority CEO Jim Newsome as saying the formation of super-alliances in the shipping industry and the advent of mega-carriers expected in the next few years may force neighboring ports — even such longtime rivals as Savannah and Charleston — to put aside their differences and cooperate.
Newsome was speaking last month to a one-day conference in Charleston sponsored by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute,
Both Savannah and Charleston are working on deepening projects at their respective ports, while a prime 1,800-acre property on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River is poised for joint development by the two states.
Collectively, the three ports could handle as many as 20 million containers a year, making for a formidable alliance.
While no discussions are underway among Southeast ports, Newsome told the JOC the issue isn’t going away.
“When you build a terminal in Jasper County someday, how do you run three terminals within 114 miles of each other separately?” he asked. “It’s something to think about.”
Up for sail
Readers who’ve been around for a while may remember famed yacht builder Palmer Johnson’s ill-fated foray into Savannah a little more than a decade ago. While the company, founded nearly a century ago, didn’t stay long in Savannah, it’s thriving again where it was born — in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. — producing a revolutionary line of carbon fiber sport yachts.
Long before its sleek sport and super-sport yachts, PJ was known for producing some of the finest sailing yachts in the world, one of which is in Savannah, where it’s for sale.
Built for Wisconsin entrepreneur George Kress in 1975, the sailing yacht Aria featured a 115-foot mast and no boom, using a then-unique system that unfurled the sail from the mast at the touch of a button.
It’s said that the late Kress, who made his fortune developing corrugated boxes, was a connoisseur of the classics who enjoyed playing his Stradivarius violin for hours every evening when he was onboard. He and his wife sailed the Aria around the world, often joined by the late Walter Cronkite and his wife.
The yacht, which has had two refits, is being offered through local broker Georgia Byrd for $1.25 million.
Container imports growing
Import volume through major U.S. container ports is expected to surge 7.5 percent this month over June of last year as retailers prepare for potential disruptions surrounding the expiring West Coast dockworkers’ labor contract, according to the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics.
In April, the latest month for which numbers are available, U.S. container ports handled 1.43 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units , or TEUs, a 9.9 percent increase from the previous month and a 10.3 percent increase from the same month last year.
Total U.S. containerized imports are expected to increase 6.5 percent in the first half of 2014, according to the National Retail Federation/Hackett Associates.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
Shipping schedule
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT ZIM QINGDAO Today
GCT APL CYPRINE Today
GCT MAERSK OHIO Today
GCT AKRITAS Today
GCT ST MARIEN Today
GCT MSC BRUXELLES Today
GCT MUKADDES KALKAVAN Today
GCT MAERSK KENTUCKY Today
OT GRANDE SIERRA LEONE Today
OT STAR GRIP Today
GCT APL LATVIA Saturday
GCT AXEL MAERSK Saturday
GCT YM GREAT Saturday
GCT XIN WU HAN Saturday
GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESS Saturday
OT TARAGO Saturday
GCT MSC ARUSHI R. Sunday
GCT HANJIN DALLAS Sunday
GCT BOSTON EXPRESS Sunday
GCT JULIETTE RICKMERS Sunday
GCT NEW DELHI EXPRESS Monday
GCT YM HAMBURG Monday
GCT NYK JOANNA Monday
GCT HYUNDAI GRACE Monday
GCT SAKAKA Monday
GCT MAERSK ATLANTA Monday
OT JINSEI MARU Monday
OT BBC PEARL Monday
OT TAMERLANE Monday
GCT APL GARNET Tuesday
GCT MSC JUDITH Tuesday
GCT SINGAPORE EXPRESS Tuesday
GCT HANJIN MARSEILLES Tuesday
GCT HS BACH Wednesday
GCT DS PATRIOT Wednesday
GCT CMA CGM MANET Wednesday
GCT SHIPPAN ISLAND Wednesday
GCT ZIM CONSTANZA Wednesday
GCT RHL FIDELITAS Wednesday
GCT MOL MARVEL Wednesday
OT BRIGHT MOON Wednesday
GCT ZIM NEW YORK Thursday
GCT CMA CGM L’ETOILE Thursday
GCT STADT GERA Thursday
GCT GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE Thursday
GCT RHL FELICITAS Thursday
GCT MSC ALESSIA Thursday
GCT CSAV LINGUE Thursday
OT CS CANDY Thursday