Newsome: SC has advantage before harbor deepening - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - The head of the South Carolina State Ports Authority says while South Atlantic ports are racing to deepen their harbors, Charleston has an advantage before those projects are done.

Jim Newsome said in his State of the Port address Thursday the deepening projects won't be done for five or six years. He says that in the meantime Charleston has a deeper harbor than Wilmington, Savannah and Jacksonville.

Newsome says shipping lines aren't going to wait to deploy larger container ships that will be able to move through an expanded Panama Canal. He says Charleston can now handle such freighters more easily than other ports, although all have restrictions on when such ships can enter harbors.

Newsome also provided an update on a new inland port in Upstate South Carolina.

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