Officials broke ground on the site of Inland Port Dillon yesterday, a South Carolina Ports Authority facility slated to open in early 2018 to support growing intermodal cargo volumes between the Port of Charleston and markets throughout the Carolinas, Northeast, and Midwest.

International intermodal rail lifts have increased 170 percent since 2011, with 23 percent of the Port of Charleston’s containerized import and export volume moving by rail. Growth in the intermodal sector has driven tremendous success of Inland Port Greer, which handled a record 103,639 rail lifts last year.

Located within the Carolinas I-95 Mega Site, Inland Port Dillon has close proximity to I-95, a critical transportation artery in the Southeast. The area is central to a significant base of existing Port users that represent base cargo opportunities for the facility. The initial phase is expected to handle at least 45,000 containers annually, offering overnight access to and from Charleston via an existing CSX mainline.

“Inland Port Dillon will diversify SCPA’s footprint and enable port users to gain logistics efficiencies through rail transportation of their cargo,” said Jim Newsome, SCPA president and CEO. “Inland ports provide infrastructure in the interior of the state that supports the movement of freight to and from our marine terminals. Our facilities in Dillon and Greer are important to SCPA’s overall volume growth and the significant amount of cargo that moves today by rail.”

“Inland Port Dillon complements the Port’s infrastructure investments in Charleston and will no doubt spur economic development activity both in the Pee Dee area and the surrounding region,” said SCPA Board Chairman Pat McKinney.

SCPA first announced consideration of an inland port in Dillon in April of 2016. To date, SCPA has completed the initial design phase, permitting and equipment requisition process for the facility and will soon award contracts to begin construction of the terminal.

“The fruition of the Inland Port in Dillon County culminates a long process from a dedicated team and partnership in which Marlboro Electric Cooperative remains ecstatic to be a part of,” said Bo McInnis, MEC Chairman. “The Port’s leadership team is already providing tremendous value today, and the future for our entire region just got a lot brighter.”