South Carolina, Georgia propose bi-state port authority

South Carolina, Georgia propose bi-state port authority Two decades after the idea was first raised, a proposal to build a new container terminal on the Savannah River is moving forward with the announcement Monday that the governors of Georgia and South Carolina plan to form a new bi-state port authority to build the terminal.
   Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said the terminal in Jasper County, S.C. would be jointly owned, developed and operated by the two states. The 1,800-acre site is downstream from Savannah on the north side of the river.
   The governors said the new entity would function much like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, though their terminals are leased to and operated by private stevedores.
   Perdue said the plan “will benefit both Georgia and South Carolina. Commerce doesn’t begin or end at a line drawn on a map, so it was crucial for the two states to come together and ensure that prosperity continues.”
   “If South Carolina and Georgia are going to maintain our respective competitive advantages when it comes to being Southeastern shipping destinations, the time to act is now,” Sanford said. He added the bi-state port authority “represents our best chance to get this port built sooner rather than later.”
   Yet the State of South Carolina has been battling with Jasper County for years over who has the right to condemn the property and build a terminal.
   According to a chronology on the Jasper County Web site, the South Carolina Coastal Council identified the area as a potential location for a deepwater marine spoil in 1987.
   The land is part of a 10,000-acre site that is physically within the borders of South Carolina, but which was purchased about two decades ago by the state of Georgia as a disposal site for dredge spoil removed to maintain the channel to the Port of Savannah, which is located on the south bank of the river.
   In 2000, Jasper County signed a contract with a private company, Seattle-based Stevedoring Services of America, which wanted to develop and operate the riverfront site.
   The county said SSA had committed to invest the estimated $450 million needed to design and build the terminal.
   Jasper County said the site would be ideal for deeper draft containerships, and envisioned building a terminal that within a decade would handle 550,000 to 1.1 million TEUs of cargo annually.
   The county began condemnation proceedings in 2000 against the State of Georgia.
   But the South Carolina State Port Authority, which operates the Port of Charleston, began condemnation proceedings of its own.
   Last year, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that the South Carolina State Ports Authority had the superior right over Jasper County and other competing interests to develop a new terminal.
   According to a statement issued by the two governors, the bi-state port authority would be owned by their states on a 50-50 basis.
   The Associated Press quoted Perdue as saying the new port authority would be separate from the existing South Carolina State Ports Authority that operates Charleston, Georgetown and Port Royal; and the Georgia Ports Authority, which operates Savannah, Brunswick, Bainbridge and Columbus.
   The proposal would authorize the Georgia Department of Transportation to sell right, title and interest in the site to the bi-state port authority for its fair market value.
   Each state would give the new authority half the money needed to acquire the land and fund half the cost of the administrative costs related to the new agency accomplishing its responsibilities.
   The states said they would immediately petition the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a relocation of the spoil easement on the property.
   The statement also said it would ask for private companies to submit proposals to participate in the development the first phase of the Jasper Terminal Site using private capital.
   The announcement came less than a week after a bill was approved by the South Carolina House that directed the South Carolina State Ports Authority to “continue and bring to its earliest conclusion” a condemnation action it had brought against the 1,800-acre site in Jasper County.
   The bill directed the South Carolina authority to do market feasibility studies, geotechnical analysis, preliminary site analysis, and preliminary engineering and design work, and set out a timetable for developing the terminal.
   It also set up a Savannah River Maritime Commission to represent South Carolina in matters pertaining to the navigability, depth, dredging, wastewater and sludge disposal and use of the river as a waterway for ocean-going ships.