South Carolina Ports Authority history

From 1716 to 1807, the Holy City was the port-of-entry for an estimated 121,500 slaves, about 22 percent of all slaves legally brought into North America, according to William S. Pollitzer, a professor emeritus of anatomy and anthropology at the University of North Carolina.

In 1827, the state chartered the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, and over the next six years it laid track from Hamburg in the Edgefield District to Charleston.

The Best Friend of Charleston made its inaugural trip on Christmas Day 1830, becoming the first steam locomotive in the US to establish regularly scheduled passenger service.

In 1838, a survey showed that Winyah Bay’s passage to sea was crooked, difficult to navigate, and only seven and one-half feet at low tide, too shallow for oceangoing ships.

The mill, which opened in 1845, is considered one of the finest examples of 19th century American industrial architecture.

Coker, P.C. III. Charleston’s Maritime Heritage 1670-1865.

An elderly, hidebound leadership stymied the city’s development. “They were older men, and the way things were done 40 to 50 years earlier was good enough for them,” says Edgar. “They didn’t want to change anything.” City leaders refused to invest in infrastructure improvements. It took the federal government, for example, to pay for deepening the harbor’s shipping channel in 1878.

By 1881, northern financiers purchased the bankrupt South Carolina Railroad.

The first unit of Columbus St Wharf as a commercial terminal was built in 1882, primarily for the purpose of handling freight from the Clyde and Quintard lines.

In 1885, a major hurricane smashed the Cooper River waterfront, destroying piers, wharves, offices, and vessels.

In a special election on November 8, 1921, Charlestonians voted in favor of the issuance of $2.5 million in municipal bonds in order to pay for the purchase of the port properties.

State leaders meanwhile realized that South Carolina needed to rebuild its maritime trade, and in 1942 the General Assembly created the S.C. State Ports Authority (SPA). The Ports Authority enabling legislation mandated development of ports in Charleston, Georgetown, and Port Royal.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers completed deepening of the Winyah Bay channel to 27 feet in 1951, and the Georgetown port began a revival that continues today.

In 1959, Young started working part-time on the docks at the age of 15.

Total cargo tonnage through the 3 ports (Charleston, Port Royal, and Georgetown) grew from 770,000 tons in 1960 to 2.2 million by the end of the decade.

In 1966, the port handled its first standardized container, and suddenly after 150 years of maritime decline Charleston could take full advantage of its port.

Export cargoes moving via SCPA facilities increased more than 96% from 1975, from 1.48 million tons to 2.91 million tons.

Shipping Act of 1984 deregulated international shipping, essentially allowing steamships lines to better able control cargo flow from origin to destination.

A St Louis native who grew up in the Kansas City suburbs, Adam is a 1986 alumnus of Knox College, and resided in Chicago; Midcoast Maine; Savannah, Georgia; and Lexington, Kentucky, before settling in the Greater Atlanta community of Peachtree Corners, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

Charleston: CokerCraft Press, 1987.

The 1st BMW shipment in March 1995, with 11 cars exported.

Phase one will add 700,000 TEUs of throughput capacity to the Port of Charleston and an additional berth to the East Coast port market at a time of unprecedented, sustained demand. It’s the first container terminal to open in the United States since 2009.

Since 2011, SC Ports’ refrigerated cargo business has more than doubled with 110% growth for loaded containers.

South Carolina Ports Authority announced a record container volume of nearly two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled in 2016.

Dredging work began in February 2018.

President Trump allocates $138 million in his Fiscal Year 2020 budget for the #CHS52 project.

The Port made history in March 2021 with record container volumes.