New SC Port terminal to receive 6 new cranes on Saturday

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Ports’ new Hugh Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston will receive several new cranes as work continues to get the terminal ready to open.

Six cranes are expected to arrive on Saturday from Shanghai, according to SC Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome.

The new hybrid rubber-tired gantry cranes load and unload the trucks. Plans call for the terminal to open at the end of March. When it opens, Newsome says it will have 25 cranes for its first phase. That is in addition to five larger ship-to-shore cranes on the dock.

Newsome says they will be able to move about 330,000 containers, which will move vessels in and out of the water from the Wando Terminal to the Leatherman Terminal. When the Leatherman Terminal opens, larger ships will use that facility since it will have the largest cranes.

The Leatherman Terminal will double the existing port capacity in the Charleston area.

“Our team has done a great job. It’s really on time, it’s on budget, and it’s a beautiful terminal,” Newsome said. “The engineering behind this terminal is the most modern equipment on the East Coast, all state of the art, dedicated access road to and from I-26.”

Newsome said the deepening project, which is part of their efforts to adapt to handle bigger ships, is fully funded and on track to be finished in mid-2022.

The terminal is named for Republican South Carolina Sen. Hugh Leatherman, who represents Florence and Darlington Counties.

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