July 2004 Editorial

State Ports

You probably have a list of things to see and do during your beach vacation this summer, but allow us to suggest adding a couple of stellar attractions to the list. You won’t even have to stop the car to see them.

If you’re going to Beaufort or Cedar Island, you’ll cross the Highway 70 bridge at Morehead City. As you cross the bridge, glance down and to the right. The sprawling complex by the waterfront is the Port of Morehead City, which moved 1.5 million tons of cargo last year, most of it raw rubber. Morehead City is America’s second largest importer of raw rubber, which arrives from Malaysia in bins for shipment to Goodyear, Firestone and other tire makers. There’s a good chance you’re riding on tires made with rubber that came through the port.

If you’re vacationing at Figure Eight, Wrightsville Beach or Carolina Beach in the Wilmington area or at the Brunswick County beaches farther south, take a quick detour down Highway 17 or Highway 74-76 toward the Battleship North Carolina, and look down the shore side of the Cape Fear. That’s the Port of Wilmington. You can’t miss it; the wharf frontage is more than a mile long.

As Lawrence Bivins writes in this month’s Cover Story, our two state ports are expecting boom times in the months ahead due to a favorable confluence of economic and political events. Both ports are benefiting from significant, expensive improvements and both have secured toeholds in key markets.

As Bivins reports, what once was considered a weakness at Morehead City now is seen as a major strength. The port specializes in bulk and break-bulk cargo and can’t handle containerized cargo. With the worldwide move toward containerization, many competing ports dismantled facilities for handling bulk and break-bulk cargo. Now, as a growing economy drives demand for basic materials, some see renewed opportunity for Morehead City. That’s clearly seen in the movement of scrap steel through the port to Nucor Corp.’s new recycling plant in Hertford County.

At the Port of Wilmington, the $292 million project to deepen the ocean channel to 42 feet now is complete, and ocean-going vessels now arrive and depart fully loaded. The new open storage dry bulk facility can outload over 800 tons per hour with a 70,000 ton storage capacity. The port moved 2.2 million tons of cargo last year.

But we know you’re going on vacation and that you probably don’t care to keep figures like that in your head. So just remember, as you hit the beach, that our two ports and their two inland terminals support more than 48,000 jobs statewide, and create $29 million in state and local tax revenue. And don’t forget the sunscreen.

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