SC Ports key to state’s future growth, competitiveness, experts say

SC Ports key to state’s future growth, competitiveness, experts say

The Inland Port of Greer is busy on a hot Wednesday afternoon. There’s a beauty in its orderliness. Across the yard, transfer trucks run down even lanes, gantry cranes move steadily to load and unload trains, and cargo containers are stacked in neat rectangular blocks, their varying colors creating a patchwork quilt of commerce against the clear blue sky.

The scene is set to double by 2025, contributing to the state’s long-term economic growth especially as people and businesses migrate to the region. Inland Port Greer’s $50 million expansion project is expected to be mostly complete by the end of this year. Terminal Manager Will Angelich said the expansion will double cargo capacity and enhance rail capabilities. “We occupy about 50 acres of concrete currently, and it’s about another 50 acres that we’re expanding,” Angelich said.

SC Ports has regional economic reach, impact

The port’s impact goes beyond Charleston and Greer. Statewide, an estimated 11% of jobs are supported by port activity. South Carolina Ports has an annual economic impact of $86 billion statewide, $44 billion in the Upstate alone. Businesses in neighboring states also use the port facilities, and SC Ports has a regional impact of $96.8 billion. “With Inland Port Greer extending the port’s reach 212 miles inland, it’s very surprising to many to learn that over half of (its) economic impact is realized here in the Upstate,” Angelich said. “One in nine jobs is directly or indirectly related to the Port of Charleston; here in the Upstate, one in seven jobs is related to the port.”

The Charleston operations expanding as well, according to SC Ports’ President and CEO Barbara Melvin. The Navy Base Intermodal Facility, set to open in July 2025, will combine the Norfolk Southern and CSX rail yards. “The Navy Base Intermodal Facility will significantly enhance our state’s infrastructure network, creating a more efficient way to move goods across South Carolina, and it will bring more cargo through Greer,” Melvin said. “These investments directly support the growth of Inland Port Greer and the upstate overall, which continues to attract investment from companies expanding their operations and establishing facilities in this area.”

SC Ports imports and exports everything from manufacturing parts, tires, and finished vehicles from BMW and Volvo to home goods, clothing, and frozen foods. Many of the items exported are made in South Carolina, about 73% of their cargo, and the items imported come from all over the world, but primarily from Asia and Europe, according to SC Ports Public Relations Manager Laura Clifton. “Currently, our top three container export commodities are chemicals, forestry products, and agricultural products,” Clifton said.

SC Ports is the eighth-largest container port in the U.S. and the fourth-largest on the East Coast. Only the Ports of New York and New Jersey, Port of Georgia, and Port of Virginia have higher cargo volumes. “[It’s] important to note that despite a 2% decrease in total U.S. exports in 2023, South Carolina’s export sales increased by 18% from 2022,” Clifton said.

10 years of growth in Greer

The first phase of the expansion project, the rail track expansion, began in October 2021 and was completed in March. According to Angelich, the expansion added about 9,000 feet of rail tracks to the facility. The second phase, the expansion of the container terminal, is set to wrap up this fall. The Greer facility will also add two new rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs), the machines that move loaded cargo containers, to the seven it already has as part of the expansion. Angelich said the new machinery will arrive in mid-September and should be operational by the end of December.

The Inland Port of Greer celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, having far exceeded initial expectations. “This facility was projected to do 100,000 rail lifts by year five of operations, and we surpassed that in year three,” Angelich said. “Ever since then, this facility has far exceeded anyone’s expected performance benchmarks. We’re on pace to complete a record about 190,000 rail lifts this fiscal year.”

This growth is important, Joseph Von Nessen, a research economist at the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business, noted during OneSpartanburg’s May Voice of Business Brunch since SC Ports supports the activities of the industries most responsible for long-term economic growth in the state, specifically advanced manufacturing and retail and distribution businesses. Interest from those industries is only expected to increase over the next 20 years.

Samantha Swann covers city news, development and culture in Spartanburg. She is a University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College alumna. Contact her at sswann@shj.com or on Instagram at @sam_on_spartanburg.