South Carolina Ports Authority Opens Inland Port Dillon
On April 16, the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) held the grand opening of Inland Port Dillon, its second inland facility constructed in the state to handle strong growth of the port’s intermodal rail cargo volumes and deepen the port’s reach into markets through the Carolinas to the Northeast and Midwest.
“Inland ports provide needed infrastructure in the interior of the state to support the movement of freight to and from our marine terminals,” said Jim Newsome, SCPA president and CEO. “The addition of Inland Port Dillon to the port’s network diversifies our reach and enables port users to gain logistics efficiencies through rail transportation of their cargo. We’ve had tremendous support from the Dillon region to date and look forward to growing our cargo base for the facility.”
Inland Port Dillon utilizes an existing CSX intermodal train service to handle container movement to and from the Port of Charleston’s productive seaport facilities. Inland Port Dillon is expected to convert an estimated 45,000 container movements from truck to rail in the first year of operation.
“Our ports system is one of the most important driving forces behind South Carolina’s recent economic success, and with the help of the Inland Port Dillon, it always will be,” said Governor Henry McMaster. “With two inland ports and the Port of Charleston soon to be the deepest on the East Coast, South Carolina has strategic advantages that no other state has, and that will continue to pay off for the people of our great state.”
SCPA opened its first inland facility, Inland Port Greer, in the Upstate region of South Carolina in November 2013. Inland Port Greer handled a record-breaking 124,817 rail moves in calendar year 2017, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year.
“Inland Port Dillon is a complement to the capacity and infrastructure investments underway at port facilities in Charleston to accommodate bigger ships and overall growth of our volumes,” Newsome said.
