South Carolina Ports Authority held a celebration of the success of Inland Port Greer, a critical component of the intermodal container logistics landscape in South Carolina and the Southeast region less than three years after opening in November 2013.
“This is truly a momentous day for the SCPA and Inland Port Greer,” said Jim Newsome, SCPA president and CEO. “We celebrate a record volume of almost 9,000 rail container lifts in last month. Such volume annualized means we can achieve 100,000 rail lifts in calendar year 2016, a volume that we originally expected that would only be possible in five years’ time. This facility is firing on all cylinders, with a rich mix of exports, imports and empty container movements for many of the major container shipping lines.”
Early discussions between SCPA and Norfolk Southern began in January 2012 for the development of Inland Port Greer, a facility designed to convert a significant volume of existing containerized truck traffic between Greer and Charleston to rail along as well as create a significant distribution center hub for the area. SCPA broke ground on the 40-acre site in March 2013.
Inland Port Greer uniquely involves the convergence of four modes of transportation at one site, with the Port, rail, truck and the nearby GSP International Airport all handling international commerce for the region’s shippers. It operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week to serve the just-in-sequence supply chain needs of SCPA’s major customers. Located within 500 miles of 100 million consumers in the Eastern U.S., Greer is an ideal for overnight distribution.