Inland Port Dillon boasts record container numbers

South Carolina Ports (SC Ports) is celebrating the five-year anniversary of Inland Port Dillon, which has achieved a record number of containers handled in March.

Last month, Inland Port Dillon saw more than 4,300 containers, marking the busiest month in the port’s history and a 16 per cent increase from its previous record set in December 2022.

Inland Ports Greer and Dillon combined handled 17,534 rail moves in March.

SC Ports handled nearly 2 million TEU and around 1.09 million pier containers fiscal-year-to-date, and also handled 15,692 vehicles last month.

The news comes amidst the recent decline SC Ports suffered in February, handling 201,418 TEU down 11.1 per cent from January this year.

This was the second highest February for volumes in port history despite the slight dip from January.

Inland Port Dillon, a rail-served inland port that connects importers and exporters to the Port of Charleston via CSX rail, opened in 2018 with Harbor Freight Tools as the anchor tenant.

According to SC Ports, the facility has rapidly become an essential hub for port-dependent businesses in the Pee Dee region, providing a direct link between farmers and international markets, and supporting the handling of goods for companies like International Paper, The Anderson’s and Darling International.

The port’s growth has led to the creation of over 25,000 jobs in the area.

Inland Port Dillon was SCPA’s second inland port, following the success of Inland Port Greer, which opened in 2013.

“This was an innovative and cutting-edge idea at the time that few ports in the country were undertaking, but we believed strongly that South Carolina Ports needed rail-served inland ports in South Carolina,” SC Ports President and CEO Barbara Melvin said.

“We wanted to extend the Port of Charleston’s reach inland to better serve our customers.”

In October of last year, SC Ports $550 million in state funds for a near-dock rail and an inner-harbour barge operation.

$400 million will go towards for the rail yard and $150 million for the barge operation.

Source: porttechnology.org