The Port of Charleston wants to convert land previously set aside for containers at its northern marine terminal into a car carrier operation, a move the port says better aligns with the state’s major shippers and helps it more quickly monetize its physical assets.

The board of directors for the South Carolina Ports Authority (SC Ports) voted Friday to approve a design project to determine how to convert part of a 210-acre parcel next to the North Charleston Terminal into a roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) operation.

The site of the former WestRock paper mill was purchased in 2024 by SC Ports for $105 million. The parcel would have doubled the current footprint of the North Charleston Terminal, the smallest of SC Ports’ three container terminals and home mostly to its north-south and trans-Atlantic services.

The total WestRock site was expected to bring North Charleston Terminal to 5 million TEUs in capacity. SC Ports said in a statement following the vote that it still expects to bring North Charleston Terminal to 3.4 million TEU, but that will require a bridge raising.

In the interim, the move positions Charleston to better serve the state’s automotive manufacturers, which include BMW, Mercedes, and Volvo, SC Ports said.

“We made a commitment to the market and board and all our stakeholders that we would focus our infrastructure and capital spending on immediate revenue-generating opportunities,” SC Ports Chief Executive Micah Mallace told the Journal of Commerce Friday. “We want to use the full extent of our real estate portfolio to generate new business.”

The design contract will consider how much of the parcel will be devoted to ro/ro cargo, including upgraded tracks for autorack rail cars. SC Ports said it expects the design and demolition process to occur this summer. Initial construction on the site could start in January 2027, with a goal of 2028 completion.

At his first state of the port address last October, Mallace said Charleston needs to get “extra aggressive” in the types of services it offers customers after it lost market share in container freight and as it grapples with previous capital spending decisions that have left the port looking for a faster return on its investments.

While the expansion of the North Charleston Terminal for ultra-large container ships would require raising the Don Holt Bridge spanning the Cooper River, car carriers would be able to reach the terminal with the bridge’s current clearance.

SC Ports’ fiscal 2025 financial report shows the port had 705 acres of undeveloped land at its various terminals and inland ports.

Columbus terminal will be freed up

The move to develop a ro/ro site would provide more room at SC Ports’ Columbus Street Terminal, which primarily handles the port’s ro/ro and breakbulk cargo, which accounted for $24.4 million in SC Ports’ operating revenue for fiscal 2025, a little under 6% of total revenue. Columbus Street handled 165,949 vehicles in fiscal 2025, down 21% from the year prior.

Hurricane Debby hit Charleston in August 2024, causing flooding throughout its downtown, including the Columbus Street terminal, which sits at the convergence of the Cooper and Wando rivers in Charleston harbor. SC Ports said in its fiscal 2025 financial statement that BMW filed a claim for flood damage during the storm.