Port users want interests represented on SPA board

By Scott Miller
smiller@scbiznews.com
Published Jan. 21, 2009

With Bernard Groseclose having abruptly resigned Tuesday as chief executive of the S.C. State Ports Authority, port users want to consider tweaking the port’s business model and increasing their representation on the SPA board of directors, said Otis Rawl, CEO of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce.

Coincidentally, businesses that use the Port of Charleston were meeting with the chamber yesterday while Groseclose was resigning, Rawl said.

Groseclose resigns as head of S.C. State Ports Authority

News of the resignation came in the middle of the meeting, he said. Afterward, the chamber decided it would ask lawmakers to create a blue-ribbon committee with business representation to study the future direction of the port, he said. Chamber members want speedy results, with the committee reporting its recommendations in 90 days.

Port users believe the current model doesn’t need to change much, Rawl said, but new leadership on the board could be needed.

“I don’t think we need to tear the board apart, but, under the normal process for appointing, we need to make sure we have business people on there who understand how to run a port,” Rawl said. “We want somebody who understands what the needs are of the business community. We don’t want to point fingers now.”

Regarding the business model, Rawl said a public-private partnership would attract more private investment at the port.

“Our guys are saying it doesn’t take much for us to recapture where we need to be,” Rawl said. “Maybe a tweaking of fees and rates and changing how we deal with customers, looking at how we chase dollars for investments. We know we have members who would invest in the port. … I think you’re going to see some kind of public-private joint partnerships down in Charleston.”

He added that part of the committee’s findings should include a new branding campaign.

“We really need to figure out if our model is right, and, if it is, we’ve got to sell it around the world,” said Rawl, who said Groseclose deserved kudos for making the Port of Charleston one of the most efficient in the nation.

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Comments:

Added: 21 Jan 2009

The port needs to reduce freight cost in several ways. They need to lease out the terminals to privite companies to keep the high price unions out. They need to get the Legislators to help get the rivers to Columbia and Aiken opened up for container on barge service. This would cut freight cost in half to Charlotte, Spartanburg, Greenville and Alanta areas. These barges would take half the trucks and polution out of Charleston. The tugs could run on B-100 (pure) biodiesel to help make it Green transportation. If Charleston don't do something soon the other companies like Maersk are going to pull out. They are going to use Mobile to go in the back doors of Atlanta. Greenville, Spartanburg and Charlotte. This will save them over a thousand sea miles and hundreds of truck miles.

bargeman

Added: 22 Jan 2009

The Union is not the issue with the port! Nobody is mentioning that Union workers in SC are moving 50 containers per hour, placing Charleston as one of the 10 most productive ports in the world. By the same token, the Union labor in Charleston is one of the cheapest in the United States! People who work in the Union make a living to work one of the most dangerous job there is to be found. Yes, they have benefits for them and their family. But they pay taxes on every hour that they work and THAT is money that goes to the State. Maersk was trying to get a contract with the SPA a few years ago and was denied by the SPA, because it would have change the balance of power inside the SPA. The result was that they did not set up their headquarters in Charleston like it was originally planned. Apparently, they are going back at it as the title of this article suggests. And that had nothing to do with the Union being overpaid! Let's replace the Union workers with people that get paid $10.00/hour with no insurance for their family; we'll call it the Wal-mart of the port.

Justice

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