In 1999, the Port of Charleston formally branded what was a long-standing advantage our port community held over competing ports…productivity. Our workers, processes, and systems are simply more efficient. We turn ships and cargo faster than any other port in North America. The numbers speak for themselves, but our efficiency is hardly of value to clients if it is not reliable. That’s were we excel. The Port of Charleston offers a unique combination of productivity and reliability that meets and exceeds the demands of our clients’ sophisticated supply chains.

The best part is, all of our clients receive this A+ service. Some ports only do their best for a select few clients. In Charleston, its high productivity, high reliability, all the time, for all clients. You can count on us to deliver.

The Port of Charleston’s ace dockside operations teams are among the best in the business. We work ships at an average of 41 moves per hour per crane. The U.S. port standard is more like 25-27 moves per hour per crane. When working a vessel with x moves and x gangs that amounts to a savings of $X per call. Multiply that figure by 52 for weekly call and the Port of Charleston can save an ocean carrier $X a year simply through more efficient operations. And those numbers do not include the value of schedule integrity and shipside operations that are impacted by delayed port calls. This high productivity also uniquely equips Charleston to work larger vessels up to 8,000TEU.

Charleston’s productivity does not stop at the dock. Our average trucker turn time is 20 minutes. This is not a “guesstimate.” We measure turn time electronically beginning when the trucker enters the gate complex and ending with a swipe of the mission ticket on the way out. How can this happen so fast? It all begins with our gate complexes. Charleston has 72 container interchange lanes which disperse truck traffic and minimize congestion. Our proprietary Yard Management System uses radio-frequency transmissions between gate operators and yard equipment operators for instantaneous mission data delivery. The equipment operator knows which truck is coming, what box is to be handled, and where the box is before the driver even leaves the gate. Also, our port operated gates are open flexible hours from 0700-1800 hours with no closure for lunch, avoiding lunch break backlogs.

The full effect of the benefit our Pros of Productivity delivers to our clients is only visible when viewed as a total port process. Here

1. Transit times of 1-2 hours from open sea to dockside, fastest on the East Coast.
2. All-tide access for even big ships. Charleston has 45-feet of water at low tide and 50 feet at high tide, enough to handle ships up to 8,000TEU.
3. Ships are worked at the dock with unparalled speed and safety.
4. Efficient vessel operations teams stack and organize cargo in the container yard using proprietary parking logic in YMS. Averaging 41 moves per hour, per crane.
5. Easy web-based cargo availability system notifies clients when boxes are ready for delivery.
6. Large number of container gates and efficient gate processes minimize queue time.
7. Truckers receive a mission ticket with directions to the box pick-up location while the yard equipment operator is notified in advance in order to be ready when the drive arrives at the yard location.
8. On-dock rail transfers are easy and smooth at Columbus Street and North Charleston Terminals. Near dock drays to rail heads from all container facilities minimize switching time and ensure early cutoff times are met.
9. Trucker averages 20 minutes from the time of arriving at the gate to swiping the outbound ticket.
10. All of this is accomplished reliably, day-in and day-out. This is not a best case scenario.

Choose the Port of Charleston and discover how to put our productivity to work for you.