South Carolina Ports Authority reported nine percent container volume growth in 2017 with a record-setting 2.2 million twenty-foot equivalent container units handled during the year.
Inland Port Greer handled 7,646 rail moves in December, pushing the facility's volumes to a new calendar year record of 124,817 total rail moves in 2017. Greer experienced 20.4 percent growth over its 2016 volume record of 103,639 rail moves.
In calendar year-end results presented to the SCPA Board, the Port's total container volume in 2017 surpassed the previous record of 2 million TEUs achieved in 2016. The Port moved 182,884 TEUs last month, an increase of 11.2 percent over December 2016 and the highest December in SCPA history.
"Global container trade growth was the strongest it has been since 2010, mirroring surprising strength in the global economy," said SCPA president and CEO Jim Newsome. "We expect to see continued strength, albeit slightly more modest, into 2018 with growth in the emerging market economies as a key factor in sustaining this positive outlook."
As measured by the total number of boxes handled, SCPA moved 103,756 pier containers in December and a total of 1.2 million pier containers in 2017.