The South Carolina Port Authority blamed congestion at other ports on fewer container ships that called in February, “resulting in lower-than-expected volumes.”
Historic congestion in California’s San Pedro Bay has had a ripple effect on other ports in the United States. A snowstorm in the Northeast that temporarily froze cargo movements in some ports may also have contributed to the slowdown in South Carolina, although the weather was not mentioned in the SCPA press release on Wednesday.
South Carolina ports handled 182,269 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) at the Wando Welch and North Charleston container terminals in the Port of Charleston in February. SCPA did not say how much that total fell compared to February 2020, but American Shipper reported last year that 197,214 TEUs were handled that month.
At the beginning of 2021, container volumes increased year on year, with 216,265 TEUs handled in January. This was an increase of 2.5% over January 2020.
SCPA this week released large volumes of cargo at its two inland ports served by railways, “particularly the Inland Port Greer, which had a record in February. Inland Port Greer reported 14,418 rail movements, almost 5% above the previous year, ”said the document.
A month earlier, Inland Port Greer, located in the interior of the state of South Carolina, had its best January, with 13,401 rail movements, an increase of 16% year on year.
SCPA said Inland Port Dillon, located in the state’s Pee Dee region, had “2,823 rail movements in February and 24,593 rail movements in the fiscal year to date, an increase of 7.4% year on year.”
The SCPA fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. In February alone, Port Dillon’s year-over-year volume dropped from 3,068 rail movements in 2020.
South Carolina Ports CEO Jim Newsome said in Wednesday’s statement: “As retail imports continue to grow during the pandemic, the ability to quickly transport goods from ships inland by rail is paramount. Cargo owners benefit from SC Ports’ rapid import transit to population centers – with intermodal imports arriving at the railways in 24 hours – and night rail service to Inland Port Greer and Inland Port Dillon.
SCPA said vehicle volumes “remained stable” at the Port of Charleston, with 17,555 vehicles handled at the Columbus Street Terminal in February.
SCPA did not say how many vehicles were handled in February 2020, but said: “So far, in fiscal year 2021, SC Ports has handled 165,528 vehicles, almost 11% more than in the same period last year.”
The 12,226 vehicles handled in January represented a reduction of 21.5% in relation to the 15,577 handled in the first calendar month of 2020.
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Click for more American Shipper / FreightWaves stories by senior editor Kim Link-Wills.