Dive Brief:

• The Jasper Ocean terminal, a $3 billion joint venture container terminal planned for the Georgia-South Carolina border, is now under review by the US Army Corps of Engineers, reported the Journal of Commerce Monday. 
• Upon the 2030 completion date, the intermodal terminal will have a harbor depth of 50 feet and capacity for more than 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units. 
• The project will not likely be completed for over a decade, but the collaboration between the two states aims to increase both the Port of Savannah and the Port of Charleston's market share, which already accounts for 50% of containers moved in the U.S. Southeast.

Dive Insight:

Georgia and South Carolina have large ambitions for their two main ports, and their collaboration in this project shows they expect the Southeast region to become a hub for shipments to the U.S. in the next decade.

The Georgia Ports Authority recently announced plans to expand the Port of Savannah's intermodal reach to Chicago in order to compete with Northeast ports for shipments to the Midwest. Similarly, both ports have invested heavily in harbor deepening projects to capture a large share of the expected container boost from the Panama Canal expansion.

In yet another example of the region's bid for dominance, the region's ports recently began to expand its cold chain capacity in order to receive more food shipments from Latin America, which were previously barred from arriving in the South due to temperature concerns.

However, all these trends will only apply in the long-term. Yet the partnership between the region's two major ports in a facility meant to improve the region's intermodal infrastructure shows the competition for market share is not between the Port of Savannah and the Port of Charleston, but between Southeast ports and the rest of the country.