Rail center at Macalloy still offers port solutions

When it comes to building the new port terminal at the former Naval Base, the Port of Charleston will either get it right or get it wrong.

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge C. Weston Houck denied a request filed on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League to halt construction of the new container terminal in North Charleston. The League is challenging the permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowing for construction of the new terminal due to concerns about traffic congestion and pollution. During the hearing, Judge Houck expressed his desire to put 'all the cards on the table' to consider all of the transportation and rail issues facing the port.

In denying the motion for a preliminary injunction, the judge raised questions about the transportation issues caused by the new terminal and allowed the League to resubmit its request to stop construction if current circumstances change. The parties must now prepare for a trial to determine if the transportation and environmental impacts were properly studied — or whether the port's permits are invalid because these impacts were not sufficiently examined.

Meanwhile, a local group known as Shipyard Creek Associates has been advocating for the port to examine functional, on-dock intermodal rail as a cleaner, faster and more cost-effective alternative to hauling cargo by truck. The solution to the League's valid concerns about traffic and air pollution can be resolved on a 135-acre tract perfectly positioned between the new terminal and an active rail yard operated by CSX. The proposed Macalloy Intermodal Logistics Center would include an intermodal rail facility that functions like on-dock rail. Vehicles powered by low-sulfur diesel fuel operating on a private connector road would transfer cargo directly from dock to train, instead of 18-wheelers. These environmentally friendly vehicles would eliminate the expense, congestion and pollution associated with the current practice of 'draying' cargo by truck over public roadways to the port's existing, remote rail yards. Instead, cargo would be transferred from dock to rail and then immediately exit Charleston without blocking major thoroughfares.

By expanding and leveraging an existing asset (CSX's Cooper Yard), Macalloy has the potential to take up to 625,000 trucks off the roads each year. The intermodal rail terminal at Macalloy would employ the latest in environmentally friendly lift equipment, including electric cranes and locomotive train engines powered by liquefied natural gas. Macalloy would set a new precedent in the transportation and maritime industries for reducing greenhouse emissions by greatly minimizing the new port terminal's carbon footprint.

But there's one thing standing in the way: neither the state Department of Transportation (DOT), nor the state Department of Commerce has embraced the Macalloy concept, even though Commerce's own State Rail Plan Update says the 'Cooper Yard-Macalloy site holds the most promise as it is clearly available and could function like an on-dock facility.'

Instead, the DOT plans to build a $300 million, elevated port access highway through Macalloy in a location that would prevent the construction and operation of an intermodal facility. However, moving the port access road a mere 500 feet within Macalloy would allow for a state-of-the-art intermodal logistics center.

Yet the Commerce Department and its for-profit division, S.C. Public Railways, are lobbying for a different intermodal option that would require trains to run through the north end of the former Naval Base, in direct conflict with an agreement the port made in 2002 with the City of North Charleston. Public and private interests, including nearby residents, relied upon that agreement in decisions they made to purchase residential property and to relocate businesses there. Still, Commerce seems intent on pushing ahead, despite opposition from the City of North Charleston and the consequences to its neighborhoods, parks and historical properties, including many on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Macalloy proposal, on the other hand, would have trains exit from the south then transition to existing lines between Meeting and King streets. This route would avoid the negative impacts to the community that would be created by the Commerce Department plan, and it could even accommodate the 'green' industry hub and wind turbine assembly plant that are now in the mix. Most importantly, Macalloy offers the functional on-dock intermodal rail solution the port desperately needs to regain its competitive advantage on the East Coast.

When it comes to the new port terminal, it's not too late to get it right.

M. John Vickerman is president of Vickerman & Associates and a consultant to Shipyard Creek Associates.