A reason to save N.C. port project
We must decide whether we want North Carolina to remain competitive in the retention of existing industries and maintain our ability to recruit new industries and therefore create new jobs. North Carolinaís decision to develop a deep-water port in Brunswick County will provide this cost competitive advantage our neighboring coastal states are currently developing.
Significant cost savings on ocean shipping are being achieved through larger container ships. Such ships, due to greater keel depth, cannot call on the Port of Wilmington. When the Panama Canal expansion opens, large ships from Pacific rim countries will call on U.S. East Coast ports. These large ships require ports with channel depths of 49-plus feet; therefore states with deepwater ports will provide their customers cost competitive advantages. With Wilmingtonís maximum depth of 42 feet, businesses in North Carolina will be at a shipping cost disadvantage if North Carolina cannot offer an additional port with a 50-foot channel.
For North Carolina to remain cost competitive for business and industry, it must develop a deepwater port with at least a 50 feet channel. The 600-acre N.C. International Terminal site is one of our stateís very few deep-water locations with that amount of developable acreage. It is imperative our state undertake the appropriate analysis and studies that would provide the information required to make an informed decision on that site development. To not undertake that analysis is irresponsible to our stateís future and its citizens.
ó John Swope
Clinton
Swope is economic development director for Sampson County.