Lowcountry Economic Network - Beaufort, South Carolina

Jasper terminal timeline approved in Georgia, S.C.

By Molly Parker

SC BIZ

SAVANNAH — The bi-state commission charged with overseeing development of a new container port in Jasper County approved an amendment on Monday establishing benchmarks for the project.

For Georgia’s and South Carolina’s ports authorities to jointly build the terminal, Congress must first approve an interstate compact allowing the two state entities to go into business together. The timeline calls for submitting that application to Congress in September 2010.

That would require both state legislatures to sign off on the agreement in the next legislative session. The bi-state commission will work on drafting that legislation this summer, with the aim of presenting it to the Georgia and South Carolina legislatures next January, said Bill Bethea, chairman of the Joint Project Office.

Beathea said the commission had originally planned to wait until a later date to establish the timeline, but concluded it was wise to move forward at this time to “give more formality to the structure.” In the legislative session that just closed, the S.C. General Assembly passed a new port governance law that — among its many tenets — calls for aggressive pursuit of the Jasper Ocean Terminal.

The timeline approved by the commission calls for kicking off an economic analysis and market study in early 2010, and a feasibility study later this year as it relates to the Army Corps of Engineers’ dredge disposal site.

Further, the amendment acknowledges that the terminal would benefit from deepening of the Savannah River up to the Jasper site. The harbor is currently 42 feet, and officials believe at least 48 feet is needed to handle the larger ships expected to flow through the East Coast through the expanded Panama Canal.

The S.C. State Ports Authority board signed off on the amendment during a special board meeting on Friday, and the Georgia Ports Authority did the same at its regularly-scheduled Monday meeting. The Joint Project Office met briefly in Savannah on Monday following the GPA’s meeting to give the amendment final approval.

The Georgia and S.C. ports authorities jointly own about 1,500 acres in Jasper County. The proposed terminal build-out would most likely occur in phases based on the forecasted growth in containerized trade, with a projected full build-out completed by 2050, the goals and objectives statement says. The terminal would be able to handle upwards of 7 million 20-foot-long containers when completed.

Published July 1, 2009