The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) announced Tuesday that it closed calendar year 2011 with volume increases across business segments, concluding a year highlighted by progress on the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project, record big ship traffic and the completion of major capital improvements.
In results announced today at the SCPA's regular meeting, December saw a slight increase in Charleston's box volume, with a 2.4 percent uptick in container traffic. Charleston handled 109,472 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month, compared to 106,866 TEUs in December 2010. Despite continued weakness in the economy, container volume for calendar year 2011 was up 1.2 percent from 2010. Midway through the fiscal year that began July 1, container traffic is off slightly, with volume down less than one-third of one percent from the same six-month period last year. Breakbulk pier tonnage in Charleston and Georgetown was up 26.8 percent in December and up 54.9 percent in calendar 2011 over 2010 figures.
In the fiscal year to date (July through December), total breakbulk at the two ports was up 59.2 percent. Charleston's non-container tonnage rose 21.5 percent in the first six months of the fiscal year (from 339,693 tons last year to 412,847 tons in FY12), while tonnage at the Port of Georgetown has grown more than threefold. Georgetown handled 268,147 pier tons in FY12 to date, up from 88,175 tons in the same period of FY11.
In addition, last year saw several advancements with the Charleston Post-45-Foot Harbor Deepening Project, currently in the feasibility phase. The Corps of Engineers and the SCPA are cost-sharing the feasibility study, with a commitment from the Corps' South Atlantic Division to get to the construction phase as soon as practical. Meanwhile, big ship traffic in the port increased in 2011, including the first call by a 9,200-TEU ship in July. Each week, Charleston handles four post-Panamax vessel calls.