Efforts to keep Maersk ships coming to Charleston continue

More than four months after the Port of Charleston's biggest customer announced plans to phase out its local business, the State Ports Authority called an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the ongoing negotiations.

Agency officials met by telephone in the afternoon to get an update on the talks with Maersk Line but did not explain why the conference had to be organized so hastily. The SPA said the meeting, which was not open to the public, resulted in no action, resolution or timeline, but instead served as an informational session.

"The whole negotiation is a fluid process, and it's very difficult to say we've reached the end," said John F. Hassell III, the SPA's interim chief executive officer. "In all honesty, I don't know that it does put us into a time frame."

But Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, said he expects a final proposal and an answer as early as next week.

"I really think this thing is going to wrap up in two weeks, but I've been at this point before," said Grooms, who took an active role in bringing maritime players together to dissuade Maersk from pulling its ships.

The company, a container carrier that accounts for about 20 percent of the volume at the Port of Charleston, already repositioned three of its seven local calls to competing ports in Savannah, Wilmington, N.C., and Norfolk, Va.

Maersk said in December it would strip all business from the Port of Charleston after it could not reach a cost-saving agreement amenable to both the SPA and the International Longshoremen's Association.

Since then, the SPA and Maersk subsidiary APM Terminals, a stevedoring company that deals with the ILA on behalf of Maersk, have been negotiating.

Facing a decline in volume, Maersk hoped to save money by moving into the so-called common area of the Wando Welch Terminal, where SPA workers would perform jobs that otherwise fall to union labor. The three local maritime unions rejected that proposal.

Grooms said the task boils down to this: "How can Maersk remain as a licensed user of port facilities and still get the same economic benefit they would receive if they were to become a common user?"

Grooms said both the negotiation time remaining and the final outcome depend on factors beyond local control, including other ports pursuing the remaining business in Charleston.

"I believe that we'll be able to successfully keep Maersk in the Port of Charleston," he said. "It would surprise me if we didn't, but I've been surprised before. The unknown is just how much Maersk anticipates their volumes to continue to decline and what other ports are offering."

Hassell said the latest proposal involves a licensed-user agreement similar to Maersk's current arrangement, under which the company must meet certain container volume in exchange for dedicated terminal space and equipment.

Though the shipping line announced its intentions to remove all calls from Charleston by the end of 2010, Hassell said he is "hopeful that we'll be able to maintain Maersk's level of service to the port, four ships per week, and be able to help grow business back here."

Maersk spokesman Dana Magliola confirmed that discussions continue but declined further comment. Local ILA 1422 president Ken Riley declined to comment when reached by The Post and Courier.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.