Port Land Deal Gets Go-Ahead
By Mark Schreiner, Star-News, Wilmington, N.C.
Feb. 10–RALEIGH — State leaders signed off Tuesday on a deal for Brunswick County land that may become home to one of the largest ports on the East Coast but cautioned state ports officials to proceed carefully with their ambitious plans.
“I know you’ve got to have bold plans — you can’t eat like a canary and walk like an elephant,” said Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat who chaired Tuesday’s meeting of the Council of State. “But this is above our pay grade. You’re going to have to keep us posted every step of the way.”
The council, made up of North Carolina’s 10 statewide elected officials, unanimously approved the $30 million purchase.
The vote paves the way for the closing of the land deal by the end of next month. When completed, the N.C. State Ports Authority will own 600 acres of undeveloped industrial land on the Cape Fear River a few miles north of Southport.
The land is being purchased from drug maker Pfizer Inc. To complete the deal, the authority will do an environmental review of the property and put the finishing touches on financing.
The authority is borrowing the $30 million through a line of credit arranged by Bank of America, BB&T and SunTrust. The debt will be paid off by the authority’s income, according to Jeff Strader, the authority’s chief financial officer.
The next step will be to find a private partner to help develop the land into a port that will handle millions of ship-ping containers each year. Such a partner would help pay for the estimated $600 million in improvements needed to get the port working.
The authority has received informal contacts from at least three international shipping companies.
The authority expects to speak to more companies and may issue a formal request for proposals from interested firms.
Discussions with state government leaders, who will be asked to provide a portion of the $400 million needed to dredge 9.5 miles of Cape Fear River channel, have already begun.
Council of State members said that in advance of Tuesday’s meeting, ports authority administrators met with them individually and shared details from a thick briefing book that outlines the authority’s plans.
The unusual nature of the proposed public-private business arrangement brought calls for caution from the governor and other Council of State members.
State Auditor Les Merritt said he approved of the land purchase but was skeptical about state government partnering with industry.
“We don’t always do as well as some businesses do,” said Merritt, a Republican.
“I need to be assured, as this project is planned, that that way of doing it is better than us just leasing the whole thing to a private company to run.”
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