Title 54, Ports and Maritime Matters

(A) There is created the South Carolina State Ports Authority. The governing body of the authority is a board of directors consisting of eleven members, nine voting members appointed by the Governor as provided in Section 54-3-20, the Secretary of Transportation, or his designee,…

The board of directors shall employ an Executive Director of Port Operations who shall serve at the pleasure of the board. A person employed to this position shall possess practical and successful business and executive ability and must be knowledgeable in the field of port opera…

As a means of raising the funds needed from time to time in the acquisition, construction, equipment, maintenance and operation of any facility, building structure, terminal railroad or any other matter or thing which the Authority is herein authorized to acquire, construct, equi…

(A) The executive director is charged with the affirmative duty to carry out the mission, policies, and direction of the authority as established by the board of directors. He must represent the authority in its dealings with other state agencies, local governments, special distr…

All funds of the Authority shall be deposited in a bank or banks to be designated by the Authority. Funds of the Authority shall be paid out only upon warrants signed by the treasurer of the Authority and countersigned by the chairman or the acting chairman. No warrants shall be …

Compensation for the executive director and division directors shall be approved by the board of directors in a public vote. For the purpose of this section, compensation includes, but is not limited to, annual salary, bonuses, severance, and vehicle allowances.

The Authority may accept contributions from all persons for the construction and equipping of port facilities and improvements in the ports of the State, and shall place all such contributions in a separate fund to be known as "the State port construction fund," and shall use suc…

The Executive Director of the Port Operations also shall employ a Director of Port Operations for the port of Georgetown. A person employed to this position shall possess practical and successful business and executive ability and must be knowledgeable in the field of port operat…

At least once each year the authority shall furnish the Governor, the Chairmen of the Senate Transportation Committee and the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and conspicuously post on the authority's Internet website, a complete detailed statement of all monies …

The Director of Port Operations for the port of Georgetown is charged with the affirmative duty to carry out the mission, policies, and direction of the authority for the port of Georgetown as established by the board of directors.

The property of the Authority shall not be subject to any taxes or assessments thereon.

(A) For the purposes of this section, "detailed description of the expenditure" means a description of an expenditure that distinguishes that expenditure from other expenditures and is particular enough in its account of the expenditure to discern the purpose of the expenditure. …

Through the authority the State may engage in promoting, developing, constructing, equipping, maintaining, and operating the harbors or seaports within the State, namely Charleston, Georgetown, and Jasper, and works of internal improvement incident thereto, including the acquisit…

The authority shall take all action necessary to expeditiously develop a port in Jasper County in accordance with the Intergovernmental Agreement for Development of a Jasper Ocean Terminal on the Savannah River within the State of South Carolina that was entered into between the …

The authority shall take all action necessary to expeditiously complete construction of a container terminal in North Charleston.

It is the intent of the General Assembly that the State Ports Authority board consider public-private partnerships with private investors that increase capital investments in port facilities and in the State of South Carolina. However, the board retains all authority associated w…

(A) Except as provided in subsection (B), the State Ports Authority Board is directed to sell under those terms and conditions it considers most advantageous to the authority and the State of South Carolina all real property it owns on Daniel Island and Thomas (St. Thomas) Island…

The jurisdiction of the Authority in any of said harbors or seaports within the State shall extend over the waters and shores of such harbors or seaports and over that part of all tributary streams flowing into such harbors or seaports in which the tide ebbs and flows and shall e…

The Authority is created as an instrumentality of the State for the accomplishment of the following general purposes, all or any of them, which are intended to broaden and not to restrict any other powers given to it in this chapter, namely: (1) To develop and improve the harbors…

(A) There is hereby established a commission to be known as the Review and Oversight Commission on the South Carolina State Ports Authority, hereinafter referred to as the commission, which must exercise the powers and fulfill the duties described in this article. (B) The commiss…

The commission has the following powers and duties: (A) To screen each person appointed to serve on the board: (1) in screening candidates and making its findings, the commission must give due consideration to: (a) ability, area of expertise, dedication, compassion, common sense,…

The commission by a two-thirds vote of its membership, may waive the requirements of Section 54-3-60(A) and (B) for a candidate for the Board of Directors of the State Ports Authority.

State agencies must fully cooperate with requests from the commission for assistance in carrying out its responsibilities and duties as established in this article.

(A) The oversight report required by this article must at least contain: (1) a performance review of each member of the board during the previous two years; (2) a performance review of the State Ports Authority executive director; and (3) an evaluation of the actions of the board…

In order to discharge their oversight responsibilities in regard to State Ports Authority operations and management, the commission may request and shall be provided within fifteen days after the request with any documents related to the sale or disposition or contemplated sale o…

(A) Commission members are entitled to such mileage, subsistence, and per diem as authorized by law for members of boards, committees, and commissions while in the performance of the duties for which appointed. These expenses shall be paid by the State Ports Authority. (B) The St…

The commission must use clerical and professional employees of the General Assembly for its staff, who must be made available to the commission. The commission may employ or retain other professional staff, upon the determination of the necessity for other staff by the commission…

In order to enable it to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the Authority: (1) Shall have the powers of a body corporate, including the power to sue and be sued, to make contracts and to adopt and use a common seal and alter it as may be deemed expedient; (2) May rent, lease…

For the acquiring of rights-of-way and property necessary for the construction of terminal railroads and structures, including railroad crossings, airports, seaplane bases, naval bases, wharves, piers, ships, docks, quays, elevators, compresses, refrigerator storage plants, wareh…

Without prior approval from the State Fiscal Accountability Authority or the Department of Administration, as applicable, the authority may not sell any real property or any buildings, terminals, or other permanent structures, excluding equipment, appurtenant to real property tha…

The Authority may exercise in reference to any property, assets, holdings, leases, contracts, rights, franchises or licenses conveyed to it under Section 1 of Act No. 216 of 1945 (Acts 1945, p 365) all of the rights, privileges, powers, immunities, duties and functions conferred …

The Authority may take, exclusively occupy, use and possess, in so far as may be necessary for carrying out the provisions of this chapter, any areas of land owned by the State and within the counties of Beaufort, Charleston and Georgetown, not in use for State purposes, includin…

The Authority may exchange any property acquired under the authority of this chapter for other property usable in carrying out the powers hereby conferred and also may remove from lands needed for its purposes and reconstruction on other locations, buildings, terminals, railroads…

The board of the Authority may assign, transfer, lease, convey, grant or donate to the United States of America, or to the appropriate agency or department thereof, any or all of the property of the Authority for any use by such grantee for any purpose included within the general…

(A) The members of the board, except for the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce, shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for terms of five years each and until their successors shall have been appointed, screened, and …

The Authority may acquire, own, lease, locate, install, construct, equip, hold, maintain, control and operate at harbors and seaports a line of terminal railroads with necessary sidings, turnouts, spurs, branches, switches, yard tracks, bridges, trestles and causeways and in conn…

The Authority may make agreements as to the scale of wages, seniority and working conditions with locomotive engineers, locomotive firemen, switchmen and switch engine foremen and hostlers engaged in the operation of the terminal railroads provided for in Section 54-3-200 and the…

The Authority may with its terminal railroads connect with or cross any other railroad upon the payment of just compensation and receive, deliver to and transport the freight, passengers and cars of common carrier railroads as though it were an ordinary common carrier.

The South Carolina State Ports Authority is authorized to make application to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board for the purpose of establishing, operating, and maintaining foreign-trade zones in the State, under the act of Congress known as the Foreign-Trade Zones Act which provides …

The South Carolina State Ports Authority is authorized to establish inland ports to provide services for the handling of general merchandise cargo; provided, however, that no such inland port shall be established unless it is designated as a United States Port of Entry by the Uni…

In addition to the powers granted previously to the State Ports Authority, the Authority may construct, equip and operate a seafood industrial port in Beaufort County or it may contract with any agency or political subdivision of the State of South Carolina for any or all of thes…

No motor vehicle shall be exported to another country through the State Ports Authority unless the Authority has inspected the vehicle and determines that it is the same vehicle described on the documents required to be filed concerning the exportation of such vehicle.

The authority must obtain the approval of the General Assembly prior to constructing a terminal or railroad on Daniel Island.

(A) The State Ports Authority is required to begin environmental impact studies and other required actions in regard to the permitting process to locate new terminal facilities on the west bank of the Cooper River at locations it determines appropriate and with a capacity in conf…

The board shall elect one of its members to serve as chairman who shall serve for a term of two years in this capacity and may not serve more than three consecutive full two-year terms as chairman. The board also shall elect one member to serve as vice chairman, and one member to…

The board shall select one of its members to serve as treasurer. The treasurer shall give a surety bond in an amount fixed by the board and the premium on the bond shall be paid by the authority as a necessary expense.