MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — Three massive container ships were being serviced Saturday afternoon at the South Carolina Ports Authority Wando Welch Terminal as Administrator Lee Zeldin watched and spoke with port officials about how grant funding opportunities can assist operations.
"The operations here at the port rely on different infrastructure that over the course of years goes through next generation," Zeldin said. "And it's the next generation of engine, the next generation of equipment and federal funding opportunities allow the port to be able to expedite that pursuit of that innovation, that technology, that opportunity of the future."
In 2019, South Carolina Ports received a $2 million grant from the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant program to upgrade the engines of 12 rubber-tired gantry cranes, which place and retrieve containers from the yard. The new hybrid engines reduced emissions and annual diesel consumption by more than 100,000 gallons.
South Carolina Ports also replaced eight drayage trucks in 2021 with electric powered vehicles thanks to another $1.3 million DERA grant.
Zeldin has toured infrastructure and businesses in other states recently, including Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine and Michigan as part of his coined "Powering the Great American Comeback" initiative. Zeldin spoke of economic conditions and the importance ports like Charleston play in global commerce.
"There's a lot of commerce coming here through the Port of Charleston, (which) is great for the Charleston community, for the state, for our country to see this export-import market," Zeldin said. "Sometimes if you're Main Street America in some other state elsewhere, but not near a port, you might not get that visual that we see here at the Port of Charleston today. It definitely feels like the largest economy in the world when you take a step back to really process just how much commerce is coming in and out of the Port of Charleston."
South Carolina Ports reported a 4.6% year over year drop in container volume, as well as $401 million in revenue — 5% under budget — for the fiscal year ending June 30. Operations at the Hugh K. Leatherman terminal have also been paused since Aug. 1, with operations being consolidated to Wando Welch and North Charleston terminals.
"We are working with our maritime partners to make this business decision to achieve long-term, sustainable growth," S.C. Ports President and CEO Micah Mallace, who was on business in Asia during Zeldin’s quickly-called visit, said in a statement in June. "We all want to retain current business and attract new business to Charleston."
Mallace was appointed president and CEO a year ago by the S.C. Ports Authority Board following the resignation of Barbara Melvin. Mallace served as chief commercial officer from 2011 to 2022, and then as president of the company Harbor Logistics.
He’ll deliver his second State of the Ports address later this month.
