SC Port Confident It Can Keep Maersk

S.C. port officials are confident that they can keep international shipping giant Maersk from pulling all of its business from the port of Charleston.

Sources at the State Ports Authority have confirmed that the timetable we laid out in our previous report for Maersk making its decision is what the agency is hearing as well.

That means Maersk’s board of directors in Copenhagen, Denmark is currently reviewing South Carolina’s “final offer” and will make a decision on the Port of Charleston on or around May 3.

A public announcement of that decision could follow within days.

S.C. port officials, lawmakers and business leaders have pulled out all the stops to try and keep the port’s biggest customer, which announced last December that it was leaving Charleston.

Numerous concessions have reportedly been made by S.C. negotiators, although it is unclear if the state was willing (or able) to cede any managerial control of its state-owned facilities.

Prior to Maersk announcing its pullout, Charleston had already been losing significant ground to its competitors thanks to its refusal to enter into landlord-tenant agreements.

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