COLUMBIA — The State Ports Authority wants to cut labor costs at its Leatherman Terminal so more container ships will be willing to use the $1.5 billion facility that’s operated by an all-union workforce.
The initiative is part of the authority’s larger effort to rein in costs and boost cargo as the Port of Charleston and other U.S. seaports “are going through a reset,” Micah Mallace, the authority’s president and CEO, told the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday.
The authority is more than 5% under its budgeted outlook for containerized cargo through the first eight months of this fiscal year. Charleston’s port has also lost ground to the rest of the port industry, with market share dropping about 2% since 2019 compared to other Southeast ports…