Wilmington, Morehead City reopen after Florence

Commercial truck operations at the North Carolina ports are expected to resume Monday.
   The U.S. Coast Guard reopened the Ports of Wilmington and Morehead City with restrictions Tuesday evening.
   At the Port of Wilmington, vessels are restricted to daylight-only operations and are prohibited from operating north of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, the Coast Guard said. Vessels with a draft in excess of 37 feet must coordinate entry with the Cape Fear Pilots Association and the captain of the port.
   The Port of Morehead City is open. Vessels that may only transit during daylight are self-propelled oceangoing vessels over 500 gross tons; oceangoing barges and their supporting tugs; and tank barges over 200 gross tons, the Coast Guard said.
   North Carolina Ports said that Wilmington and Morehead City would reopen to employees Thursday. It plans to resume full commercial truck operations in Wilmington and Morehead City on Monday. 
   A state of emergency remains in effect all of North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety reported that as of noon Wednesday, 196,911 power outages remained in the state. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) said there were 850 road closures, including Interstates 94 and 40.
   “Travel is still not advised to these regions due to rivers that haven’t crested, debris, downed power lines,” NCDOT tweeted.
   The Weather Channel reported that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has urged those who evacuated their homes not to return yet because flooding could worsen. Hurricane Florence has killed at least 37 people in the Carolinas and Virginia.
   The South Carolina Ports Authority is observing normal operating hours in Charleston, Greer and Georgetown.
   Inland Port Dillon also is open, and CSX was scheduled to resume regular northbound service from Charleston to Dillon on Wednesday. The return of southbound service will be determined later in the week, the South Carolina Ports Authority said. 
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Kim Link Wills

Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills has written about everything from agriculture as a reporter for Illinois Agri-News to zoology as editor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Her work has garnered awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Prior to serving as managing editor of American Shipper, Kim spent more than four years with XPO Logistics.