References: #Charleston Regional Business Journal
Is the Port of Charleston's main failure a PR one?
There's an insightful opinion piece over at The Charleston Regional Business Journal about how one of the biggest failures of the Port of Charleston may have been its failure to communicate why our newest residents should care about the port.
Read more stories on this subject in our port topic page.Here's part of it:
It appears the supporters of the maritime industries are in the minority, and the rest of the community ranges from being apathetic to wishing there was no port here at all. ...
Outright opposition to the port seems to be a recent phenomenon that occurred along with the explosive population growth that we have experienced. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I think the majority of people who moved here did so for lifestyle and don’t want ships, cranes and container traffic blocking their view.
This is where the port made a near-fatal error and has yet to recover. The State Ports Authority’s failure to accurately gauge public opinion and mount an effective public relations campaign before announcing the “Global Gateway” [link] not only lost the opportunity for new facilities on Daniel Island, it has put the Port of Charleston in a perpetual defensive posture. The Maersk issue is just another one of those birds coming home to roost. I’ll wager that if the port expansion on Daniel Island had gone through as first envisioned, the portfolio of ocean carriers would be different, and so would negotiations among Maersk, the SPA, and the International Longshoremen’s Association.
Seems to be a pretty acute assessment to me.
The author is Grady Johnson, publisher and CEO of SC Biz News -- which includes The Charleston Regional Business Journal.
Meanwhile, our state's lovely Legislature is already discussing ways to shake up who is on the port's board of directors and how they are selected. You can go read about that at The Post and Courier.
Comment and read more
our topic pages and automatically found related coverage.
09 Jan 2009 8:19 am.
The SPA has a pitiful PR image - this is true. But also you have to look at the facts.
Their 3 container terminals are running at less than 50% capacity now- before Maersk pulls out. The SPA wants to build a 4th very expensive terminal . This makes no sense .
If you had 3 apartment buildings that were 50% occupied and you went to the bank for a loan so you could build a 4th apartment house - the bank would laugh you out of their office.
The SPA has greatly exaggerated their importance to our State- This propaganda campaign has stated the port generates 280,000 jobs statewide. These numbers are bogus. If Maersk leaves and we handle 25% fewere containers, do you really think S.C. will lose approx. 70,000 jobs?
Why werent' these 70,000 people lined up demonstrating? Because the numbers are not true.
We need a new port model - Let's quit using the state run business model of the Soviet Union and lease or sell our state run terminals to the private sector and focus our limited government resources to activities only our state should be operating - education, law enforcement and DHEC.
Ken Hawkins
09 Jan 2009 2:13 pm.
What little I know about port models pushes me in the direction of liking privatized ports. -- If I'm recalling correctly, I believe us and Savannah are some of the only non-private ports in the country (world?).
The argument I've heard in favor of private ports is that they're more efficient and generally pay their way for infrastructure (instead of getting the state to pay for needed improvements) and actually give money back to the community in the form of funding for improvements around the city to offset their less-than-pleasant experience.
Maybe it was the Galveston port that was showcased as doing that.