Big things are coming

As part of its new contract with Mediterranean Shipping Co., the State Ports Authority next month will welcome the largest container ship yet to tie up on the nation's South Atlantic coast.

SPA Chief Executive Officer Jim Newsome shared the news at a Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at the Charleston Area Convention Center on Wednesday. Showing a photograph of the MSC Rita on a projector screen, he said: "This is a picture of a ship, but it's a very important ship."

Newsome explained that the completion of the Panama Canal expansion in 2014 will change the container industry, as harbor depth becomes more important than ever for ship owners.

The Rita is set to arrive at the Port of Charleston, the deepest natural harbor along the South Atlantic coast, on Feb. 22, Newsome said.

The ship can transport the equivalent of about 8,100 20-foot-long shipping containers but still navigate Charleston Harbor without restriction and allow for two-way traffic.

Just over a decade ago, the SPA boasted its

first visit from the Maersk Regina, which could carry about 6,000 20-foot containers. At the time, the ship was the largest container vessel ever to call on an American port.

While comparable in length to the Regina, the 1,063-foot-long Rita has about one-third more cargo capacity, underscoring the industry's rapid shift to increasingly larger vessels. But some of these megaships are being put into service at a time when worldwide freight volumes are sharply down.

The SPA announced just before Christmas that Charleston would receive a weekly call on MSC's Golden Gate service from Asia by way of the Suez Canal. The Rita comes as part of that new service, which will be handled at the state agency's Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant.

"This is the only port in the South Atlantic that this ship can call today," Newsome said.

Four months into the job, Newsome introduced himself to the local business community at Wednesday's event. Stepping to the podium, he told the packed ballroom, "I hope I can convince you in the next 20 minutes or so here that we have a wonderful port here."

He went on to share the dismal cargo volumes that last year slipped to 2000 levels. "This is a slide that I am not proud of, but I need to show it," he said.

Newsome said the SPA aims to build its business in breakbulk, or non-containerized cargo, and to get the Port of Georgetown deepened to 27 feet to keep current contracts and to attract new business. He named boosting container volume as his top short-term priority.

"We have a good plan to do that," he said. "And the best years are ahead of us at this port."

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