Jim Fair
A truck enters the inland port Tuesday from Dobson Road. Trucks will now enter the port on GSP Logistics Parkway and onto International Commerce Way.
Jim Fair
Containers are stacked three deep in preparation for their loading onto Norfolk Southern rail cars for the trip to Charleston.
Jim Fair
Each light pole at the Inland Port, about 100 feet high, must have a GSP localation on top with altitude and longitude since it falls within the GSP Airport environs.
The first regular departure from Charleston to Greer was Tuesday, with the start of regular arrivals and departures at SCIP on Wednesday. The Greer port has spent nearly a month finessing all facets of the transportation facility.
Deaton told City Council the total number of new inquiries and prospects “coming into our pipeline in 2013 was very robust. It’s been a very consistent level of activity. April on that number picks up, no small coincidence that April was groundbreaking (March 1) for the inland port facility. That new project for us has been tremendous for new business activity.”
BMW Manufacturing Co. of Greer is the cornerstone tenant at the inland port. It’s $13.4 million, 414,000 square foot warehouse sits just yards away from the port, on property leased from Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.
Deaton said larger buildings requests have become routine. “A little different this year is we have seen more requests for 9,000 - to greater than 100,000-square foot buildings on the industrial side,” Deaton said. “Again, it’s no coincidence the inland port facility located in Greer has driven the demand for larger buildings.”
The demands for more land has also shown a direct relationship with the construction of the port, Deaton said. “Our demands would be 5 to 10 acres. It’s 21 to 50 acres on site selection and is a result of the inland port and more requests for larger sites.”
The South Carolina Port Authority’s newsletter Tuesday stated the Inland Port terminal is “fully operational and functional as construction concludes on support facilities – the new dedicated access road is open, all yard machines are operational, the maintenance vendor is on-site and the terminal is fully staffed.
“Operating hours for receipt and delivery of containers at SCIP are 24/6, closed 6 p.m. Saturday through 8 p.m. Sunday.”
“We are seeing the actual freight come and go and the trucks come and go. It’s exciting,” said City Administrator Ed Driggers. “We’ve not seen no negative impact with the port in Greer.”
Road crews were working late Tuesday marking GSP Logistics Parkway, the access road, and removing barriers that had closed one lane on each side of Hwy. 80 / J. Verne Smith Parkway. Trucks carrying containers were making their last trip along Dobson Road into the port connecting to International Commerce Way.
Remaining is signage from the Brockman McClimon exit onto Hwy. 101 and Verne Smith Parkway to the port’s entrance. The Department of Transportation will post that signage.
Greer is within weeks of posting signage within the city prohibiting trucks carrying containers to the port. The former entrance to the port off Hwy. 290 is closed.