accommodate the larger vessels carrying
full container loads. At this time, there is
no guarantee it will get the environmental
approval, or the funding, to do the work.
If Savannah can’t get the job done, then
its loss could be Charleston’s gain.
Charleston, 108 driving miles to the north,
boasts a 47-foot depth at its entrance
channel and a 45-foot depth at its harbor.
It already handles one 8,500-TEU ship per
week routed through the Suez Canal. It is
also building the last container terminal to
be permitted in the United States, a 288-
acre facility approved in 2007. The project’s first phase is set for completion in
2018, according to Byron Miller, marketing director of the South Carolina State
Ports Authority, which runs the port.
One Georgia port interest, speaking on
condition of anonymity, says Savannah’s
TEU throughput is so much larger than
Charleston’s that even if Savannah lost
one-quarter of its volume to its rival, the
added traffic “would shut Charleston
down.” Miller disputes that notion, saying
the 750,000 additional units—which
would be roughly equal to one-quarter of
Savannah’s 2010 TEU volume—when
added to Charleston’s 2010 TEU total of
1. 36 million units, would represent what
the port handled at its peak five years ago.
“We’ll take half of their business; we
don’t need just a quarter,” he says.
“JUST DO IT”
Savannah’s shallow depths have long
posed challenges for the vessels it serves,
as well as for the port itself. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, which has spent 12
years studying the environmental impact
of deepening Savannah’s harbor, said in
mid-November that more than 70 percent
of vessels aren’t operating at their maximum capacity or draft when they call at
Savannah. “The ‘light loading’ of vessels
increases costs to the shipper, which are
eventually passed on to the consumer,”
the Corps of Engineers wrote in an environmental impact statement in support of
the dredging plan. Each foot of draft
allows vessels to carry an additional 100
loaded containers, according to industry
estimates.
The comments submitted during a two-month period following the statement’s
release were mostly supportive of the
project because of its economic and
job-creation potential. Few echoed
the worries of environmentalists that
a deeper river could cause saltwater
to infiltrate freshwater wetlands,
killing off fish and wildlife, and
requiring businesses and communi-
ties to pay for costly filtration equip-
ment on water intakes.
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