Jasper Port Battle Ends

By Peter Hull, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Mar. 28–The States Ports Authority has cleared another hurdle in its effort to build a shipping terminal on the Savannah River, as key opponents to the agency’s involvement in the project have agreed to give up their fight.

Jasper County Administrator Andrew P. Fulghum said the county’s court battle with the SPA over control of the proposed 1,800-acre port site is effectively over. Jasper’s financial backer, Seattle-based SSA Marine, has agreed to stop funding the case.

All the while, a bill introduced by House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, is sailing through the General Assembly. The legislation would block Jasper from condemning the port site, which is on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River but is owned by the state of Georgia.

SPA Chairman Bill Stern told the agency’s board at its monthly meeting Tuesday that he held a series of talks with SSA officials and that the company agreed to put its checkbook away.

“We had some good discussions,” Stern said. “We didn’t always agree, but I appreciate their support.”

Jake Coakley, SSA’s regional vice president in Savannah, said Tuesday that the private port operator found itself on the outside from a legal standpoint. While SSA decided to drop the court case, that does not mean the company is permanently out of the picture in Jasper, he said.

“(The SPA’s) position is to keep this going forward and at some point to look for private funds,” Coakley said.

Jasper was the first to announce plans to condemn the property and develop a large container terminal with financial backing from SSA. The SPA submitted a competing proposal for the same property in early 2005.

The issue went all the way to the state Supreme Court, which last year ruled that the SPA had greater powers than a local government to condemn land. Jasper and SSA then sued the SPA to halt its efforts to seize the property, but a judge last month ruled that the county cannot intervene in the condemnation.

Since then, the governors of South Carolina and Georgia have announced a plan for the two states to jointly develop and run a shipping terminal at the Jasper site.

Under that proposal, an independent agency would be created by the states, and the new port would compete directly for business with both Charleston and Savannah.

Also, the agreement would negate the need to condemn the land.

The governors plan to appoint a task force, which within six months will formulate specific details of how the project will proceed.

Details of who will sit on the task force have not been released.

Any agreement would have to be approved by the legislatures of both states and ratified by Congress.

The SPA said it has not yet taken a position on the governors’ plan. Stern said he wants to wait for the task force report before commenting.

In other developments, the SPA board awarded the following contracts Tuesday:

–A $350,000 contract to Culwell Engineering of St. Simons Island, Ga., for design services associated with demolition of about 40 buildings at the former Navy base in North Charleston, where the SPA plans to develop a new terminal.

–A $190,000 contract to Newkirk Environmental Inc. for design services associated with 22 acres of marsh restoration at the southern end of Drum Island in the Cooper River. Newkirk will prepare construction plans and manage the $1.5 million project.

–An estimated $200,000 contract to Southern Dredging for dredging of all berths at the Port of Georgetown to a depth of 30 feet.

Also Tuesday, the SPA board was told that earnings are off compared to the same period last year. The agency made $32.5 million for the period ended Feb. 28, down 11 percent compared to the year-earlier period.

Revenue was up about 1 percent to $101 million, while expenses climbed 7 percent to $68.4 million.

Cargo volume, as measured in increments of 20-foot-long containers, has slid 3 percent to 722,000 units since July 1. The SPA’s fiscal year ends June 30.

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