Carolina’s hub campaign faces frustration

The 3m teu project was to be built on 600 acres of land owned by the North Carolina Ports Authority near Southport – however, the expected funding for a feasibility study did not arrive in this year’s state budget.

The budget cuts have helped give breathing space to opponents of the scheme, who are worried about the 20-fold increase in shipping capacity in the area. The ‘No Port’ organisation cites environmental damage caused by pollution, extensive dredging and landside development which, as well as hurting rare and endangered species would impact fisheries in the Cape Fear system.

Despite the North Carolina authority saying it is “no longer pursuing the project” and its own initiation of a Commercial Maritime Strategy study, spurred on by the lure of tens of thousands of jobs and the possibility of an East Coast Hub, one group, Yes Port NC, decided to raise the US$13m to fund the NCIT study through donations. However, this stands to be frustrated by a group of developers who are apparently supporting a move to relocate the NCIT project to nearby Morehead.

Lorrie Rutledge, who heads Yes Port NC says, “I’ve been told by reliable sources that Morehead is not capable of handling a terminal of this capacity. The Morehead Facility lacks the land space requirements, plus, as it was built on a dredge spoil area it can’t handle the load bearing of an international deepwater access terminal.” Her point is that the feasibility study would show up areas of contention and “let all North Carolinians know whether or not the NCIT is a worthy project to pursue”.