Crane purchase puts Charleston port's rail yard project on fast track

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free.

A rendering shows the Navy Base Intermodal Facility to be built adjacent to the State Ports Authority's Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston. File/Palmetto Railways/Provided

A North Charleston rail yard that will let the Port of Charleston move cargo containers to and from trains while reducing truck traffic on local roads is moving beyond the planning stages with the State Ports Authority spending nearly $47 million on heavy-lift cranes for the site adjacent to the Leatherman Terminal.

The SPA's board of directors voted Sept. 20 to purchase six rail-mounted gantry cranes from Austria-based Kuenz Cranes. It's the first major equipment purchase for the $400 million rail yard at the city's former Navy Base. The contract includes the design, fabrication, transportation, erection and final commissioning of the cranes, with delivery scheduled in 2025.

The board also agreed to spend nearly $2.9 million on road improvements near the future rail hub and almost $2 million on a wetlands restoration project in the Kings Grant neighborhood off Dorchester Road, which is being done as compensation for wetlands destruction at the train site.

The SPA rail project is officially known as the Navy Base Intermodal Facility. It's part of $550 million in port improvements the S.C. Legislature is funding. The money will also pay for a barge facility at Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant, which will move containers by water to the Leatherman Terminal and, ultimately, to the rail yard.

"These three projects really kick off the Navy Base Intermodal Facility and barge project that the state of South Carolina very confidently invested in for us," Barbara Melvin, the SPA's president and CEO, told board members.

Melvin said a near-dock rail yard is necessary for Charleston's port to compete with the Port of Savannah and other sites for cargo. The barge and rail facilities will also reduce the number of trucks hauling containers from Wando Welch to existing Norfolk Southern and CSX Corp. rail yards in North Charleston. Those railroads move cargo from the Port of Charleston to inland ports in Greer and Dillon.

About one-fourth of all cargo moving to and from Charleston's port is transported by rail.

"This erases our last major competitive disadvantage as a major East Coast port without having on-dock or near-dock rail," Melvin said. "We have a target date for opening of July 1 of 2025, so this project is going to move quickly."

Nexans workers walk by giant drums containing subsea high-voltage cable at their company's plant in Goose Creek. Lauren Petracca/Staff

The Nexans factory in the Bushy Park area of Goose Creek has been awarded a second contract for the Revolution Wind Farm being developed off the U.S. coast by Danish power company Orsted and Connecticut-based Eversource, New England's largest power provider.

Nexans will produce undersea cable at its Charleston International Manufacturing Center plant to connect the wind farm, located about 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast and 32 miles east of the Connecticut coast, to an onshore power grid. Nexans, based in Paris, previously won a contract to install the export cable link at the wind farm.

Financial terms of the contract weren't disclosed.

Nexans recently completed an $80 million expansion at its Berkeley County site to make high-voltage undersea cables — the only such factory in the United States. The expansion, which nearly doubled the site to 475,000 square feet, included a new onsite shipping terminal along the Cooper River where miles-long power cords can be loaded onto the Nexans Aurora — a custom made cable installation vessel.

"Establishing our footprint in the United States and furthering our commitment to the U.S. offshore wind industry is at the core of our business operations," Ragnhild Katteland, Nexans' executive vice president for subsea & land systems, said in a written statement.

"We have made several investments to deliver subsea transmission cables that are manufactured and installed in America, and the partnership with Orsted and Eversource is the first step in bolstering supply chains with strong, local partners," Katteland said. "We are committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible as innovation is crucial to meet the needs of a territory as large as the United States."

The 704-megawatt wind farm is expected to produce enough power to bring electricity to more than 350,000 homes. The project will replace close to 1 million metric tons of carbon pollution — the equivalent of taking more than 200,000 cars off the road annually. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2023 and the wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2025.

In addition to supplying power cables for U.S. wind farms, Nexans will export cables for use in foreign countries.

The S.C. Department of Commerce has received a federal grant to help businesses looking to ship their products overseas through Charleston's port system.

The $250,000 grant from the Small Business Administration will help fund export programs and services, including assisting new and experienced exporters with on-site counseling, developing market-entry strategies, administering export training and connecting companies with appropriate partners and resources.

This is the 10th consecutive year Commerce has awarded a State Trade Expansion Program grant.

“Export services are key in helping companies grow their business and reach new markets,” agency chief Harry Lightsey said in a written statement. He said the grant "will allow us to support South Carolina companies looking to expand their reach around the globe.”

More than 83 percent of the state's companies that export products are small- and medium-sized businesses, according to Gregg White, district director for the SBA's office in South Carolina.

This year's grant will assist between 35 and 40 businesses expand their exports and participate in international trade exhibitions.

Email -->

Sign Up!

Reach David Wren at 843-937-5550 or on Twitter at @David_Wren_

Nearly 80 percent of the luxury Kiawah senior living units in Seafields have been reserved. They are selling at an average of $2 million a unit. Read more$215M Kiawah luxury senior facility to begin construction soon

It's the 24th year the Palmetto State has paused collections for 72 hours on certain retail purchases. Read moreReminder: SC waiving sales taxes on back-to-school items starting Friday

In the final case surrounding a botched $9 billion South Carolina nuclear plant, a federal judge ruled that a number of grand jurors who voted to indict former Westinghouse executive Jeffrey Benjamin on mail and securities fraud charges were potentially biased because they were ratepayers. Read moreJudge dismisses charges against ex-Westinghouse exec in remaining VC Summer fraud case

A Charleston-based company is the first to buy property in the Avian Commons small-business center in the sprawling Camp Hall tract in Berkeley County. Also, a new retail shop is opening in a downtown hotel, and another is coming to the peninsula. Read moreFirst retail land sold near Volvo Cars factory; 2 new shops coming to downtown Charleston