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The South Carolina State Ports Authority is scaling back expectations for the coming months following last year’s near-record numbers for containerized cargo.
"If you look at the December numbers for most ports, they are very modest — some negative and some slightly positive," said Jim Newsome, the SPA’s president and CEO. "We expect flat to very modest growth over the next six months."
The Port of Charleston handled 551,174 TEUs during the first half of fiscal 2016, which started July 1. That is a 4.8 percent year-over-year increase, much lower than the 14.4 percent growth the SPA experienced in fiscal 2015.
Economic weakness in China and tepid demand elsewhere are combining with a strong dollar and inflated inventories to depress U.S. imports and exports.
"Short term, it seems global trade is taking a pause right now," Newsome said. "We believe that to be a short-term blip right now."
The slowdown is also affecting Charleston’s main competition in Georgia, where the larger Port of
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Savannah set a record for cargo last year but saw its December numbers decline.
"I think everyone’s cautious about this coming year," Curtis Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, told The Wall Street Journal. "Everyone feels decent about the U.S economy but what they’re worried about is China affecting other markets."
Newsome said he hopes new projects, such as expansion of cold storage warehouses in the Charleston region and a Dollar Tree distribution center upstate, will drive more traffic to the port.
"Whatever happens in world trade, we’ve got a lot of things to accomplish," he said. "We have to stay on track with our marketing plan and that really relies on us capturing all the cargo that should move across our port and capturing our share of discretionary cargo."
Newsome hopes there will be another boost in the second half of this year when the expanded Panama Canal opens.
For more of the Post and Courier story: www.postandcourier.com
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