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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina’s results-challenged government-run port system is facing a major shakeup, sources familiar with the situation have confirmed to FITSNews.
That shakeup reportedly involves the forced resignation of Barbara Melvin, who has served as the chief executive officer of the results-challenged S.C. Ports Authority (SCPA) since July 1, 2022. The agency’s chief financial officer, Phillip Padgett, will serve as interim CEO until a new leader can be chosen.
While Melvin’s ouster – which we are told is imminent – will draw headlines, industry insiders have directed their most vocal criticism at the SCPA’s political leadership, including long-time chairman Bill Stern and vice-chair Pamela Lackey.
“Stern and Lackey have way overstayed,” one waterfront source told us.
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Melvin has seen several key senior leaders depart the agency in recent months, a drain of intellectual capital that has accompanied declining volumes at the Port of Charleston.
According to the latest data from the American Journal of Transportation (AJOT), Charleston moved approximately 2.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year – well below its previous numbers. By contrast, the Port of Savannah moved 5.1 million TEUs last year – up 13.3% from the previous year.
Two decades ago, Charleston was the dominant port in the southeastern United States. Today, Savannah has not only overtaken Charleston… it has doubled up on the Holy City.
And the gap is only going to grow…
FITSNews has meticulously documented the ongoing bureaucratic mismanagement of this key economic asset over that time span – including a shameless political sellout by former S.C. governor Nikki Haley. Her betrayal cleared the way for Georgia’s recently completed, government-subsidized harbor expansion – which the Peach State is following up with even more aggressive growth plans.
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Charleston, meanwhile, has stagnated. Melvin took the reins of the struggling agency from former chief executive officer Jim Newsome, who presided over similarly declining fortunes.
Will anything change under a new leader? No… not unless the SCPA’s broken structure is fixed.
For starters, this agency has ignored one of the Palmetto State’s most significant competitive advantages in an attempt to cram capacity in and around Charleston, S.C. The peninsula has no room to grow – and its supporting infrastructure is horrendous. As state senator Tom Davis has consistently pointed out, Palmetto State politicians keep trying to “shoehorn additional capacity” into Charleston – even though it clearly won’t fit.
Davis has been attempting to route future port expansion to a privately managed terminal in Jasper County, S.C., site of the last deepwater port location on the Eastern Seaboard.
More significantly, the political governance of this agency continues to demonstrate abject incompetence – which is why FITSNews has called for years on state leaders to privatize the management of port infrastructure.
“South Carolina should not be in the port business – and the management and development of these competitive assets should be left exclusively to the private sector,” I wrote in the spring of 2021. “Allowing the private sector to manage the state’s port assets would not only enhance operational efficiency it could potentially free up potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in public money for needed infrastructure enhancements.”
What was true then is truer today…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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5 comments
Things Barbara Melvin has accomplished the private sector would have NEVER done:
1) sell union pier and end cruise ships
2) no container cranes south of the ravenel bridge (cranes off Columbus St)
3) deepest harbor on the east coast
4) only new container terminal on the east coast and a new road to it
5) port royal: sold and redeveloping
6) Georgetown: county owned and redeveloping, taxpayer no longer hosed annually to dredge for 2 boats
7) Greer and Dillon inland ports
8) convincing Maersk to stay after Groseclose ran em outta town.
9) Wal Mart Ridgeville warehouse
10) Jasper Port-notice no one talks about this anymore cause it’s the dumbest idea in a looooong time?
Thats just what I personally remember.
By any numerical metric she is the most successful port head South Carolina has ever had, and possibly the biggest single job creator in the history of sc economic development.
Y’all can’t just say thank you, good luck, and stfu?
Mathew 25:21- Well done good and faithful servant.
Don’t let the bastards drag you down. – Bono
Pam Lackey is one of the most corrupt characters in SC. She sold out the State’s communications to ATT. Then took a kickback job from ATT to run SC territory. She then used ATT bribery to promote ATT and herself. Just a 1st class crook. Melvin was a WOKE DEI appointment. That has ruined the port. Companies are not doing maintenance work for the Port since it started 60 day payment terms. Obviously, the Port is broke, if it can pay contractors on time. The SC taxpayers are being defrauded by the crooks running the port as their personal piggy bank.
I don’t know that I would classify Barbara’s ascension to CEO as a DEI hire or a “woke” thing…she’s not some johnny- come- lately (or is it “jill?”) who just parachuted into the position after serving as some women’s studies/ diversity professor or grifting consultant. Her Linkedin page says she’s been at the SCPA for over 27 years, half of which time was in a C-suite capacity. While maybe she is or is not doing a good job, I’d say she got it the old- fashioned way – working your way through the ranks.
Woke my ass, she got that job cause she is a stone cold killer who knows where the bodies are buried. Stern gets indicted within 24 months of Melvin’s “resignation”, mark my words.
If you want to look at a pretty good state run Port look at Savannah. They have been building and doing great for years. Private sector is not the answer. The SC politicians continue to get in the way and has been the demise of Charleston.