Lawmakers hammer SPA chief
Tough questions from state lawmakers hit the State Ports Authority’s top executive in rapid succession Wednesday:
How have we slipped so far behind Savannah? Should the SPA maintain total control of the working waterfront, or should the Port of Charleston be partly privatized? Is anyone evaluating the SPA’s administration?
The port’s mainstay container business dropped 10 percent in the latest fiscal year, which ended June 30, said Bernard Groseclose Jr., the SPA’s president and chief executive. Though break-bulk, or non-containerized cargo, and cruise business both picked up, container cargo accounts for 90 percent of port traffic.
Charleston, Groseclose said, took a harder hit than most ports last year.
He noted Savannah’s status as the fastest-growing port, rich in distribution centers.
“The growth Savannah and Norfolk (Va.) have experienced the past few years has offset the growth we’ve seen,” Groseclose said.
Savannah moved the equivalent of 2.6 million 20-foot-long containers last year versus Charleston’s 1.8 million, according to Groseclose.
State Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said that when he drives by on Mondays, the Columbus Street terminal often looks desolate, and longshoremen’s hours have been cut in half over the past few years. Groseclose explained that the Wando Welch terminal sees more Monday traffic and that fewer hours for longshoremen are a result of the volume drop.
McConnell wondered if keeping the SPA in total control to the exclusion of private industry really fits the port best.
“I’ve got longshoremen living in my district, and they’re looking for work,” he said. “I’m seeing empty docks.”
House Majority Leader and ports subcommittee Chairman Jim Merrill asked if the SPA board of directors would evaluate Groseclose and his staff. S
PA Chairman David Posek said this year will see a more stringent assessment of the administration, with seven points under review.
Wednesday’s meeting at North Charleston City Hall was packed as the subcommittee led Groseclose down a list of hot topics.
Merrill wondered if the SPA would make public a new appraisal of its Daniel Island property, which a residents’ association proposed to buy earlier this year. The SPA rejected the group’s $25 million offer as too low.
Groseclose said he would recommend at the next SPA board meeting to put the Daniel Island property back on the market. But he said the appraised value would not be made public.
Echoing the concerns of Daniel Island residents, Sen. Chip Campsen said, “We could look like South Beach, Miami, or we could look like the Lowcountry, depending on what y’all put there.”
Groseclose responded that the SPA’s development plans call for 45 percent green space for the project.
Lingering transportation and infrastructure concerns debated at the meeting were left largely unresolved.
McConnell questioned whether the $182.5 million appropriated for the construction of a port access road at the terminal being built at the former Navy base in North Charleston is enough, when original estimates put the cost of the road at more than $280 million.
“Is $182 million enough or is it not?” McConnell asked. “I don’t want the legislature blamed for lack of infrastructure.”
Groseclose said that amount should be enough, since most of the money sits in an interest-bearing account and will be used over time.
But Ron Patton with the state Department of Transportation wasn’t so sure.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable from DOT saying today we’d have the money to do the project without certain things falling into place,” Patton said.
The subcommittee also questioned Groseclose on railroad concerns at the new terminal, specifically that track owner CSX could exclude rival Norfolk Southern.
S.C. Public Railways President Jeffrey McWhorter said only a federal agency, the Surface Transportation Board, can legislate for both CSX and Norfolk Southern to operate at the site, so the idea of access for both rail companies remains up in the air.
Raising quality of life concerns, Campsen suggested letting trucks into the Port of Charleston earlier than 7 a.m. to keep them out of rush hour traffic.
Groseclose said facilities are not open at night to receive the trucks.
“Yes, there is a problem,” Merrill said, directing the meeting toward other concerns. “We all nod our heads, end the meeting and walk out. It gets very frustrating.”
By Allyson Bird
The Post and Courier
August 7, 2008
