Chief Operating Officer Barbara Melvin is expected to take full control of the South Carolina Ports Authority, making her the first woman to run a top-10 U.S. container port.
Melvin reportedly worked her way up through the South Carolina Ports Authority ranks after joining the organization in 1998. She earned the COO post three years ago and has been tapped to take over for retiring CEO Jim Newsome. The changing of the guard couldn’t come at a more opportune time for Melvin as the port is poised to ramp up operations.
“I am honored to be chosen to lead S.C. Ports and continue the positive momentum we have generated together. I am grateful, and I am ready,” Melvin reportedly said. “With the guidance of our board, the skill and talent of our team, the solid experience within our maritime community, and the support of elected, business, and community leaders, S.C. Ports will achieve enhanced growth benefitting the state, region, and nation.”
She garnered unanimous support from the port authority board of directors and will take over following a $2.6 billion infrastructure investment. Perhaps the most significant change to the main Charleston port will be a harbor that’s 52 feet deep. The deeper port will allow large cargo ships to dock at increased frequency. The harbor’s shallowness had previously caused shipping and receiving delays during low tide periods.
“We have worked together to cultivate a highly competitive, world-class port that continues to grow above the market. This past year has been one of my proudest as we have achieved major successes, including Walmart investing in a near-port import distribution center, our handling of record-breaking volumes during a global pandemic, and the opening of Leatherman Terminal, the first container terminal to open in the U.S. since 2009,” Newsome reportedly said.
The Charleston port ranked ninth among U.S. ports after moving 1,173,536 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2020. That figure marked a -3.3 percent change from 2019. Nearby Norfolk, Virginia, experienced a -4.1 percent decline while top-5 ranked Newark, N.J., and Savannah, Georgia, saw growth. But with the deeper harbor and more cargo ships traveling through the Panama Canal to avoid West Coast supply chain logjams, Charleston appears to have improved its infrastructure at precisely the right time.
South Carolina is also reportedly making a $160 million investment into modernizing truck chassis. The port authority plans to leave the South Atlantic Chassis Pool and purchase upwards of 13,000 chassis before the end of April 2022. Port authority officials indicated that 10-20 percent of chassis are out-of-service at any given time, and 25 percent are not equipped with anti-lock braking systems. Should the S.C. Port Authority succeed in creating a state-of-the-art chassis pool, along with other infrastructure and logistics improvements, Melvin could be the first woman running a top-5 port in the coming years.
Sources: usnews.com, charlestonbusiness.com
Why not , women run trucking companies,are they not capable enough to do that,sounds good let’s see what happens