The Port of Charleston

In the summer of 1998, when Moran joined forces with Turecamo Maritime, Inc., and its affiliated company, White Sack Maritime Corp, Moran added Charleston to its now 13 ports of service on the East and Gulf Coasts. The Port of Charleston is the second largest container port on the U.S. East Coast, behind New York/New Jersey combined, and ranks fourth in the nation. Located at the midpoint of the Eastern Seaboard, Charleston is strategically situated to be a major hub for international shopping, offering easy access to land, air and sea. An average of more than six vessels sail into the port each day from more than 50 steamship lines. Top commodidites passing through the port include foodstuffs, forest products, consumer goods, machinery, metals, cheicles, chemicals and clay products.

In 1942, South Carolina established the State Port Authority (SPA) to foster economic developement. Currently the SPA operates four terminals in Charleston, Union Pier Terminal, Columbus St. Terminal, Wando Welch Terminal and North Charleston Terminal, that together in 1999, handled a record of 11.2 million tons of general cargo, 95 percent of which was containerized cargo. In addition to the SPA docks, the Port of Charleston has nine other private terminals and seven bulk commodity terminals. The port recently set a new worldwide vessel productivity record of 64.8 moves per hour, per crane sustained for more than six continuous shours - up more than 11 moves and hour from the old record.

A recent order for four of the largest container cranes in North America will help Charleston maintain its reputation as one of the most automated ports in the country. Additionally, SPA plans to develop the Global Gateway Terminal on Daniel Island, 1,300 acres of undeveloped land located just eight miles from the open sea. These developements, along with the deepening of shipping channels to 45 feet, will enable the port to accommodate the next generation of super-post-Panamax ships. Over the coming five years, the SPA plans to invest $162 million in its facilities to handle the growth of existing customers and to continue improving service levels.

Moran Towing of Charleston is the successor company to White Stack Maritime, which has had a presence at the port of Charleston since 1882 and was aquired by Moran as part of its merger with Turecamo Maritime in 1998. Turecamo purchased White Stack in 1978 from Wayland T. Coppedge Jr., who had previously sold his Jacksonville, Florida, company, Florida Towing Company, to Moran in 1976. Moran has continued White Stack's tradition of providing the best shipdocking and horbor towing servies to ship operators in Charlestion. Over the past 10 years, the number of vessel calls to the State Port terminals has increased by 67 percent witht he size of these ships also growing from traditional break bulk, to first generation containerships, to Panamax class and post-Panamax class. During this same ten-year period, containerized cargo has increase 97 percent to an annual total of 1,543,965 TEUs. Since larger ships are more sensitive to weather and tide conditions when docking, White Stack responded to its customers' needs by building a new reverse Z-drive tractor tug in 1998, the ELIZABETH TURECAMO. At 6,140 horsepower, the ELIZABETH TURECAMO is also well equiped to assist the larger post-Panamax vessels that have begun to and will soon be calling at Charleston. The ELIZABETH TURECAMO rounds out Moran's fleet to five tugs in Charleston. This fleet has total of 15,440 horsepower and is capable of responding throughout the port to effectively meet the needs of Moran's customers. The fleet is comprised of the 6,140 HP twin-screwZ-Drive tug, ELIZABETH TURECAMO, oe 3,300 HP tug, the CAPE MAY, and two 3,000 HP tugs, the CHRISTOPHER TURECAMO and MICHAEL TURECAMO. Moran has doubled the total horsepower of its fleet in Charleston over the last 20 years in order to provide the best equipment for its customers.

Other Moran-affiliated operations in CHarleston include Turecamo Environmental Serviec (TES). TES specializes in servicing oil tankers, barges, terminals and manufacturing industries located in the Charleston region. Typical work includes waste oil removal, emergency oil-spill response, prepositioning oil containment booms, bilge, water transfers, and industrial cleaning. Important customers of the TES group include the U.S. Navy, the UNited States Coast Guard, the SPA and the local spill-control co-op made up primarily of the private oil and bulk terminals.

Also operating under TES is the Harbor Launch and Linehandling division. HL&L provides linehanding service to vessels docking and undocking at the private terminals in the port. This division also provides 24-hour launch service to vessels anchored in the port.

Keeping all of these operations running smoothly is accomplished by an experienced abnd knowledgeable staff led by Mr. Peter Nistad, Senior Vice President of Moran Towing Corporation. Peter has 30 years of maritime experience and has been involved with the port of Charleston since 1978. in addition to his Charleston responsibilities, Peter oversees the ports of Savannah, Georgia; Brunswick Georgia; Jacksonville and Miami, Flordia, and Port Arthur, Texas. The person responsible for Moran's day-to-day operations is Charleston is Tim West, Vice President. Tim has 25 years of maritime experience in all aspects of the maritime industry. Assisting Tim is Matt Walton, General Managaer of Moran Towing of Charleston. Matt's previous assignment was in Miami, Florida, where he led Moran's Miami operation for six years prior to his transfer to Charleston. David Morton is the General Manager of Turecamo Environmental Services Inc. and had 15 years of experience with White Stack. Perry Fant, Operations Manager for TES, has 20 years of experience with White Stack. Responsibility for maintaining the fleet of tugs abd barges in Charleston belongs to Lucas Gaillard, Port Engineer. Lucas was the Port Engineer for White Stack for 25 years. The dispatching staff of Alan Bischoff, Chester Jackson and Michael Lauder each had at least 15 years' experience with White Stack and all have extensive knowledge of the port.