Port promoters get creative to boost business

Traffic through the Georgetown port has skyrocketed in the past year as officials have tried to lure new business despite the port’s need for dredging.

Pier tons through the port, the way the items that move across the dock is tracked, increased 193 percent in calendar year 2011 compared with 2010, hitting 456,541 pier tons last year, according to the S.C. Ports Authority, which helps generate business for the state’s ports in Charleston and Georgetown. Growth at the Georgetown port is expected to continue this year, officials said.

“We’re taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to selling Georgetown,” said Allison Skipper, spokeswoman for the S.C. Ports Authority. “The outlook for the year is good. We’re seeing new business come into Georgetown and we continue to try to build that even more.”

The Georgetown port, which is much smaller than the Charleston port and handles different kinds of goods, has gotten more attention recently as officials search for ways to boost business and a four-month-old task force focuses on finding money to dredge the port, an expensive process that leaders say is crucial to the port’s long-term viability.

The dredging has been an ongoing issue, with federal funds not coming through for what could cost as little as $5 million to get started up to $30 million for the entire project. The channel needs to be 27-feet deep, though spots are only at 20 feet, officials said. That keeps the bigger ships businesses use to transport goods from being able to make it through the water to the port.

The lack of dredging has forced economic development officials to turn away 10 businesses interested in using the port during the past four years because the channel couldn’t accommodate the businesses’ ships, said Wayne Gregory, Georgetown County’s economic development director. The port is so shallow that Arcelor-Mittal steel mill, which sits by the water within a stone’s throw of the port, can’t even use it, officials said, with the company shipping 150,000 tons annually through the port in Wilmington, N.C.

Having the port dredged would open doors to more business at the port, which has a trickle-down effect on Georgetown’s economy, officials said.

“It would be a tremendous boost for our entire region,” Gregory said. “[The port] is a tremendous asset, but if you don’t have the water, you can’t get ships in there.”

The S.C. Ports Authority has focused on finding business coming in on barges, which don’t need water as deep as the ships transporting goods, Skipper said.

“It comes down to that draft limit,” Skipper said. “Ships need more water to come in. It’s a challenge we are trying to get around.”

The port imports materials such as pet coke from South America for the metals industry in South Carolina, and exports items such as cement from Holcim Cement in Holly Hill that travels to the Northeast U.S. for construction, Skipper said.

“For a lot of commodities, water is going to be the most cost effective means for travel,” she said.

And Georgetown just signed another piece of new business, with the first shipment expected to go out within a month, Skipper said. It will transport mill scale, which is the byproduct of metal production.

The port has what companies look for, including covered storage, large laydown areas for the goods and skilled labor in the area, Skipper said. But none of those matters if the ships can’t get in.

Like those trying to lure businesses to the port, the 10-member Georgetown Port Task Force, formed about four months ago by state legislators who represent Georgetown, also is getting creative. The group is pursuing all kind of funding to get the port dredged, and even have talked about scaling back the project to make it more affordable. For example, dredging only 200 feet of the 400-foot wide channel, which wouldn’t allow for two-way traffic in and out at the same time, but would still allow a path for bigger ships and meet the need. Another option would be dredging the most shallow spots of the nearly 16-mile long channel instead of the entire thing.

“We are looking at that,” said Tim Tilley, the task force’s chairman. “We are seeking different ways of funding this.”

The task force, which includes local leaders and the legislative delegation for the area, has talked with Gov. Nikki Haley, the port authority, the North Eastern Strategic Alliance economic development group for the region and other officials about the dredging need, Tilley said.

“We are all individually out there seeking sources of funding right now, whatever it may be,” he said.

The community support for the port is one of its assets, Skipper said. Gregory said the port is an economic asset that distinguishes Georgetown from other cities that might be vying for the same business.

“The port is a cornerstone of our effort,” Gregory said. “It’s the unique asset we have.”