SCPA handles record container volumes in April

The South Carolina Ports Authority will also welcome the largest vessel to ever transit the Panama Canal, the 13,092-TEU COSCO Development, when it calls at the Port of Charleston next week.    South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), which owns and operates the ports of Charleston, Georgetown and Greer, handled 189,315 TEUs last month, its strongest April container volumes on record and the second highest month in the port authority’s history.
   According to recent data from SCPA, nearly 1.8 million TEUs have moved through SCPA’s two container terminals since last July, an increase of 10.2 percent from the same period in the previous fiscal year. SCPA, which has a fiscal year that runs from July 1 to June 31, moved 107,340 pier containers in April and 1 million pier containers fiscal year-to-date, a 10.3 percent bump from the same period last year.
   In non-containerized cargo, SCPA’s fiscal year-to-date tonnage in Charleston reached 689,220 tons in April, with 54,426 breakbulk tons for the month. Its breakbulk business segment is now 6.3 percent ahead of planned fiscal year volumes through April, said SCPA.
   Inland Port Greer also experienced its highest April throughput ever with 11,125 rail moves last month. The inland intermodal facility has seen volumes grow 27.6 percent year-over-year to 95,999 rail moves in the current fiscal year.
   In addition, the Port of Charleston will receive the largest ship ever to transit the Panama Canal next week. The 13,092-TEU COSCO Development will dock at Wando Welch Terminal after making stops at the ports of Portsmouth, Va., and Savannah, Ga. earlier this week.
   The arrival of the COSCO Development and the prospect of more ships like coming to the U.S. East Coast it has prompted SCPA to upgrade the Wando Welch Terminal wharf and purchase new cranes for larger vessels, construct the Leatherman Terminal to handle increased container volumes, and deepen the Charleston Harbor to 52 feet, work on which is scheduled to begin this fall.