Another Jasper Ocean Terminal deadline has been pushed back. What’s the latest?
The Jasper Ocean Terminal, a long planned $5 billion seaport expected to prop up the rural Lowcountry economy, is likely delayed again as Georgia officials want more time to consider whether to partner with Jasper County on the project.
The Georgia Ports Authority was supposed to decide by Sept. 1 whether to work with the Jasper County Council on the port, expected to be one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced, or expand the Savannah port onto Hutchinson Island. Now, the deadline is likely to be Dec. 31, according to newly drafted agreements.
For years, the project was an evenly split joint venture between South Carolina and Georgia’s state ports authorities for what would follow after the Charleston and Savannah ports reached capacity.
Earlier this year as the S.C. ports authority asked for more than half a billion dollars in additional funding to continue building out Charleston instead of starting work on the roughly 1,500-acre Jasper site, Georgia began eyeing nearby Hutchinson Island as an alternative.
In an effort to keep the Jasper Ocean Terminal moving forward, S.C. Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican, helped arrange a deal for the S.C. ports authority to hand over its half of the agreement to Jasper County.
While Jasper County Council has agreed to take over half of the joint venture, Georgia officials have not agreed to work with the county. Earlier this month Paul Threlkeld, an attorney for the Georgia Ports Authority, wrote Jasper County attorney David Tedder asking for an extension.
The agency “will not be prepared to officially either offer or withhold its consent,” Threlkeld wrote in the Aug. 12 letter, adding the Sept. 1 deadline seems “arbitrary.” He said Georgia officials are “still studying issues” related to Jasper County’s assumption of South Carolina’s rights and responsibilities.
All three parties are expected to agree to a Dec. 31 deadline.
“I think we finally cut the Gordian knot,” Davis said about shifting ownership from the ports authority to the county. The senator, who has advocated for the project since it was first announced in 2007, noted that he’s “been working on this for almost 20 years, so I would like to see things happen, but I understand things take time.”
He said Georgia likely had concerns about “putting faith in its competitor” but Jasper County is a “passive investor” and “willing partner” who wants this port and the benefits from it.
“This makes all the economic sense in the world,” Davis said. “All the impediments have been addressed, and there’s a compelling case for this to move forward.”
The Washington Post recently featured the Jasper Ocean Terminal as one of 10 projects that could benefit from the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package that has passed the Senate but not the House.
The project was notable, it said, because it would have the capacity to transfer 8 million, 20-foot cargo containers a year and meet the Southeast’s cargo demand through at least mid-century. The drawback: Substantial improvements would need to be made to nearby highways and rail lines.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 12:08 PM.
