INFRASTRUCTURE

Ideal Infrastructure
for Agribusiness

From a logistics standpoint, South Carolina is hard to beat. South Carolina is within 1,000 miles of 75% of the U.S. population; perfect for shipping perishable and non-perishable items domestically. South Carolina’s interstates are enhanced by more than 41,000 miles of state-maintained highways, offering excellent east-west and north-south access. From major interstate roadways and ports serving as global destinations, the Palmetto State makes doing business easy.

Hidden Row

Ports

The Port of Charleston is one of the busiest container ports along the southeast and Gulf coasts and is recognized as one of the nation’s most efficient and productive ports averaging 41 moves per hour per crane, well above the U.S. port standard of 25-27 moves per hour per crane. The deep harbor and high bridges also allow the port to serve ships of 8,000 TEUs and its close proximity to the open sea saves valuable time. The Port of Charleston has the deepest shipping channels in the southeast and can accommodate up to a 48-foot draft during high tide and a 43-foot draft 24 hours a day.

The South Carolina Ports Authority owns and operates two inland facilities which allow cargo owners to minimize their inland expense while enhancing flexibility and efficiency, and realizing savings on variable costs such as container per diems, chassis rental, and demurrage. South Carolinas Inland Port Greer and Inland Port Dillon are innovative, intermodal rail facilities that deliver the benefits of a coastal marine terminal many miles inland.

Learn more about South Carolina’s intensive port system by visiting, South Carolina’s Ports Authority website.

South Carolina borders Georgia making access to the Port of Savannah convenient for agribusinesses. Considered, the single largest and fastest-growing container terminal in America, the Port of Savannah serves as another conduit through which raw materials and finished products flow to and from destinations around the globe.

Learn more by visiting, Georgia Ports Authority website.

Land

South Carolina is crisscrossed by five interstate highways, offering excellent east-west and north-south access to the rest of the nation. In addition, these interstates are enhanced by another 41,000 miles of state-maintained highways.

Air

Any location in South Carolina is within about an hour of a commercial airport, with four primary airports located at Columbia, Charleston, Greenville-Spartanburg and Myrtle Beach. In addition, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, just north of Rock Hill, is within a few hours’ drive of most South Carolina locations, as is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in central Georgia.

Rail

CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern and seven short line railroads combine to offer rail service in every metro area, operating almost 2,300 miles of rail that moves through each of South Carolina’s 46 counties. Additionally, South Carolina Public Railways operates three common carrier railroads. The Port Utilities Commission of Charleston (PUCC) and the Port Terminal Railroad (PTR) provide switching services to the terminals of the State Ports Authority and the former Navy Base in North Charleston and interchanges traffic with both a short line railroad located in southern Berkeley County, serves BP Chemicals and Nucor Steel. Rail traffic on the ECBR interchanges exclusively with CSX. These combined services allow nearly 50 million tons of freight to move over South Carolina railroads each year.

For more information about South Carolina’s infrastructure, visit the following sites.

Did you know?

The Journal of Commerce acknowledged that the Port of Charleston is “regarded as the most productive East Coast port.”