South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), Charleston, S.C., opened a new refrigerated container service area in the Port of Charleston. The $14 million project will support growing cold chain business in the Southeast.

The new 6-acre refrigerated container service area at the Wando Welch Terminal features a 12-lane service canopy, on-site storage and staging for gen-sets and container washing stations for shippers, truckers and ocean carriers.

The port also boasts four new 5-story refrigerated container racks that provide 120 more reefer slots on terminal, bringing the port-wide total to 1,700 plugs. Four additional racks of the same size are under construction, slated for completion in January 2018.

“Expansion of refrigerated cargo is a strong driver of SCPA’s overall volume growth, and our capital investment in refrigerated cargo infrastructure reflects a strategic commitment to our cold chain customers,” says Jim Newsome, president and CEO. “We look forward to capably serving the continued growth of this business segment.”

Complementing SCPA’s on-terminal investments are more than 660,000 square feet of cold storage and blast freezing capacity. Local cold storage providers include Agro Merchants Group, Alpharetta, Ga.; Lineage Logistics, Colton, Calif.; and New Orleans Cold Storage, New Orleans.