A deeper channel to North Charleston
SC Ports and the Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District signed a feasibility study agreement to deepen the channel to the North Charleston Terminal. That channel is currently 48 feet. The 2022 harbor deepening brought the main harbor to 52 feet, and the goal is to extend that depth to North Charleston.
Congress authorized the study through the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, and federal funding came through in the fiscal 2026 appropriations. If it happens, every SC Ports container terminal could take the largest vessels regardless of the tide.
A new South American service
CMA CGM added its AMERXL service, a fixed-day weekly route calling Charleston. It connects the Southeast to Cartagena, Guayaquil, Callao and San Antonio, with southbound transits of 5 to 17 days.
The cargo is seafood, produce and flowers coming in, and protein and food products going out. Charleston has more than 2,000 refrigerated container slots plus nearby cold storage. This was the seventh weekly South American service.
Dredging underway
The Dutra Group started maintenance dredging in August on a $28,175,500 contract covering two turning basins and about 19 miles of channel. Two mechanical dredges are working at once. The job runs into fall 2027.
The harder news
Container volume fell 4.6 percent in fiscal 2026, which ended June 30. Revenue came in around $401 million, roughly 5 percent under budget. The authority cut operating costs to $378.7 million, which is 10 percent below the original budget and 5.3 percent lower than the prior year.
How they got there: early retirement packages, renegotiated contracts, delayed hiring and overtime monitoring. The Leatherman Terminal was idled as of August 1. It cost $1 billion to build. The Navy Base Intermodal Facility, a $550 million rail yard, is delayed with no announced opening.
New leadership
Patrick McCrory becomes chief operating officer October 5, leading a 500-plus person operations team. He was most recently president and CEO of Palmetto Railways, and he started his career as a stevedore at Wando Welch Terminal.
And something genuinely strange
The Port of Charleston joined a study with the Port of Felixstowe in the UK, Maersk and Lloyd's Register on a nuclear-powered shipping corridor between South Carolina and southeast England. Charleston's experience handling nuclear-powered Navy submarines is the reason it was included.
Why any of this matters to a local business
The Port is the reason Charleston grew the way it did. When it invests, jobs follow, and when jobs follow, households follow. A 4.6 percent volume decline is worth watching, but a feasibility study for a deeper channel and a new weekly service line are both signals that the long-term bet is still on growth.
Every household that arrives because of a port job is a household that needs a dentist, a mechanic, a roofer and somewhere to eat on Friday.
Sources
SC Ports Authority, First step to deepen channel to North Charleston Terminal
HERE Charleston, SC Ports Expands South American Shipping Access
HERE Charleston, Charleston Harbor Dredging Begins in August
SC Daily Gazette, Less cargo has SC Ports Authority cutting its way toward growth
SC Ports Authority, SC Ports taps McCrory as Chief Operating Officer
HERE Charleston, Charleston Port Joins UK-US Nuclear Shipping Corridor Study
First reported by scspa.com.