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well instead of an arab spring is it cynic american economic spring
it would certainly seem so unemployment is falling somewhat capital markets are
rising
home sales showing some improvement and in general
confidence has moved up
thank you again for watching is supporting the most widely watched
source for carolina business in public policy by numbers things are the a bit
better the elephants in the room they'll continue to be our historic debt
overhang as well as
substantial role so people who are unemployed or
underemployed
louis gossett of south carolina manufactures group in jeff edge from
charlotte chambers help us jump-start this dialogue
and later on south carolina ports boss jim newsome
major funding also by the duke and alma private foundation in charlotte
enriching communities in the carolinas through higher education health care
rural churches and children's services
and by blue cross and blue shield of north carolina who's responsible for
rising health care costs join blue cross and blue shield of north carolina and
many others in a candid discussion at let's talk cost dot com
this addition of carolina business review was recorded april tenth twenty
twelve
on this week's program jeff manager of the charlotte chamber of commerce louis
gossett of the south carolina manufacturers alliance and special guest
president and c_e_o_ of the south carolina ports authority
well what are programmed by happy spring guys
so yeah
finally here and um... uh... eugene push to get a sense
it seems that people are feeling a little bit better about things you know
i i kinda ticked off unemployment has dropped some degree certainly in north
and south carolina
uh... conference is a bit better you know we do have this challenge for for
the cost of fuel and things like that but
you know what's your sense people are more optimistic
i think they are asking for manufacturing for the last year to
there's been increased level of optimism
there's been people
dusting off projects uh... actually giving things into the pipeline
economic development professionals around south carolina or seeing more
inquires more actual
faltering
on those inquiries in the same before we have some extremely good announcements
down there
uh... we've had um...
a drop in unemployment
now what we want to see that certainly progress we were
for nearly hai
compared to a lot of rest of the ruler the rest of the country before that
anyway
so we've had that drop in largely it's been led by manufacturing so the folks
at talk to or certainly feeling a lot better than they did in january two
thousand and
although it would have been too hard to get above that yeah you know you're
right i mean the baseline was pretty low just same thing as they saw you nodding
in agreement you feel
more optimistic
very much so and i i think here in charlotte in particular
think going back to last year may be the latter half the year with announcement
like to keep his headquarters coming in we saw all kind of a surge of of
enthusiasm and optimism here in the business community that pay
we think we finally turn that corner
we're pulling out all that and i think at my desk
doing what i do know hurting companies were seeing a lot of good activity a lot
of very interested companies looking and they seem to be very serious about
moving forward in making decisions
you know i i made this this comment about elephant in the room being the
debt overhang and institution is you should louis thurs
you know employment has come down to some degree its sub ten percent but
that's still
you know the repair is the real rate of unemployment he's is still higher than
ten percent are these issues we shd
deal need to be concerned about absolutely on a wannabe leading here no
absolutely in fact i think that's what we're seeing in in our country right now
in in the southeast is the growth were experiencing
is it what it should be
and i think that that's because it's of the uncertainty that still out there in
the uncertainty whether it be from government regulation
and uh... not knowing what an employee a new employees going to cost a couple of
years from now
and uh... the debt situation uh... he every time you seem eternal c_n_b_c_
remiss in bc
you see that there's a
european crisis of the day
and uh... that is perfect markets and they started
maybe way in a little bit on somebody's confidence about growing their
facilities or adding in the winter their portfolio
so i think the uncertainty that's out there that's largely created by folks
that are outside of the manufacturing sector
is still weighing heavy
on folks and that's why we haven't seen the robust growth that we've probably
should've seen by now folks are growing
but they're not adding employees as quickly as you would expect
and that's where i think in certainly plays a role yeah i didn't refute
earlier
you know i i i think one of the things were saying i think there's an
expectation in the in the in the marketplace with the labor market
that we're gonna go back to where we were u three four five years ago and i
think companies
have been doing more with less
from up from a human resources perspective for the last several years
i don't know that we're gonna see great
gains of employment in the short term i think we're gonna see more
entrepreneurial
enterprises popping up where people are or finding that they can't go back into
the role of what they were doing before because companies have eliminated
and figured out ways to use technology and other things to into really
do the work in a more efficient manner
and yeah i just know and and the project for the we see there much smaller
projects from a headcount perspective
not to say we don't have small art was in the pipeline but but generally
speaking you therefore t_-fifty
hundred jobs here twenty jobs they're not nostalgia jobs every every attorney
go around so year we had a where dialogue you're a few weeks going on ask
you both about this in the dialogue was specifically in south carolina lewis
about this whole idea that
yeah there are companies and jobs
let the workers they're getting they're punching from one another i'm not taking
from the pool of the unemployed is is this a phenomenon or is this a trend
that's going to continue jeff you have you seen this point we we've actually
seen i won't name names and that's marketplace but we've seen some
companies that have been growing fairly significantly in the charlotte market is
a concerning to well it's concerning from the perspective of you know you
kind of creating uh... uh...
of bands system if you will where you know if i'm not
paying more to keep some body and somebody's going to take my while labor
then what'll idea five got to go out replace those people
uh... u
we're seeing a good that they could get render the communique role system in the
university system trying to retrain a lot of folks
but you know for example you get into some very specific industries in in this
market place like the energy sector that's growing tremendously
ami nuclear engineers unit can you put out an in a given period of time so you
can be going looking for those existing folks
that that are out there in in it means you're probably taking them from someone
else spot
offering a better package or whatever it might be concert concerned that nine or
ten percent of the population and i couldn't get the jobs because they're
being overlooked
not sure if they're being overlooked they've got to see captain get training
that they need in order to do
work in the facilities that are represent
one of the things that we believe
actually probably the biggest
infrastructure talent after developing the port which we're going to talk about
later is our work force
we think the going for discolored be the single biggest challenge in the respect
to future economic development
it was a lot of unemployed people there's no question about the whether or
not they have the skills
to match up with the jobs that are being offered
is another question
south carolina has been able to meet those needs and i would argue that a
buddy we can still meet those needs
it's very difficult to do it we're fortunate that we have one of its not
the best delivery mechanisms for training in our technical college system
in the country
and they're able to meet that need but it's chris is becoming a bigger and
bigger challenge for us
to mary up the skills with the jobs are being offered we got some nice anish is
to do that starting up in the state
but it's gonna take awhile for those things to get the pipeline and for you
to see some real differences that we have a sixty seconds off for we bring it
jim induces dialogue
uh... caustic gas clearly makes headlines how much of the cost of fuel
eazy-e_ real wet blanket on on development jen jet jeff
well it and i think that the jury's still out on that i think they're you
know that when you look at the logistics industry for example uh... i have seen a
chart before showing
just the cost of diesel fuel on how far on a gallon at x price a truck and
travel before you know that it starts getting to a certain cost level
it's going to end packed some patterns of how business is locate where the
where they do
in relation to customers it's gonna impact where they go to relation to
labor force
uh... you know you maybe like in charlotte for example people commute
generally about a twenty-mile radius is kind of their appear threshold of pain
that may start to shrink down a little bit of fifth if gas costs go up and
people can't afford dynamic changes yellow stating things like that it was
i think that that
initially challenges the jet engines
natural gas prices for example are very late right now and that's a good thing
for me fracturing uh... whether we're using its power the facilities are raw
materials that's a good thing
but the challenge i think more than almost anything else may not be so much
increase calls because as you're certainly there is hard to pass them on
the consumer confidence what does it do to consumer confidence and if the
consumer stop spying
the things that my members make that's a challenge and that's that i worry about
probably a little bit more
uh...
in in the long run a bigger picture than maybe the increased cost i don't want to
banish says trivializes bit
i think consumer confidence might be something that we ought to be with son
will bring a guest at justice
uh... next weekend his program annabel mailings that might not be a household
name she is the british consulate general
to the southeast oh... dennis out for a long time but certainly brings the uh...
a is specific u_k_ point of view
uh... in ended two weeks he is the secretary of commerce from north
carolina keith chris go will be back on this program in two weeks
specifically the palmetto state with recent announce expansions or new
business announcements like boeing b_m_w_ bridgestone continental tire
amazon
michelin to name just a few
the focus is set squarely on the state's ability to la just ically managing
inventory from these organizations
ensure the south carolina ports authority and it's not just about
administering shipping containers
but it also includes the broader health
of the regional economy joining us again is south carolina state sports authority
president
jemison hide jim welcome back to the program after the aircrew
but genomic ny
if you don't know what star with a deepening project wheaton read in the
papers or read on the news stories or wire has been that that
uh... that the charleston port needs to be deepened and they couldn't first
couldn't get the money for the the research to even started during the
debate where is the whole project right now
well we do need to be deep and therefore our version already authorized to be a
fifty feet
aware in the study phase now which is the second phase of the project and we
fortunately
have been funded for that study in the two thousand thirteen obama budget so
we're off to a good start our study now
when you finish the study as fast as possible and move into the construction
site hiking eight compress the amount of time to get the study done in your
opinion
uh...
where somewhere between three and five years in getting it done around five
years this tradition even seeing this fast there's a the savannah harbor
project is sixteen years in the study phase today that's obviously way too
long
uh... we think we need a dent in three years of momentum today to do that
because there's all the sudden emergency in the federal government to deepen
faster
is there you don't you can talk about the federal government here has been
clearly component in in
um... the future of ports
do you get the sense that there is not a standardized ports authority
policy for this federal government but it's kind of a one-off for new yorker
norfolk critter austin well they are federal harbors they were made pero
harbors in eighteen twenty six and and there needs to be uh... infrastructure
prioritisation
system in our country that applies to ports and other transportation
infrastructure projects
previously they've been done is independent thinker really no
coordination and what senator gramm has been issued criminal in doing
is bringing forward for of america east approach to harvard evening there will
be priorities made
in federal money will be given to those projects that have the most merry the
most *** for the bod
you know that that's a that's a great point what are some of the dangers of
south carolina have during that process
well we have uh... basically the the cheapest forever to get to fifty feet or
more of debt
and then you get the most impact in doing so so we can where forty five p
today we have an ocean or respond a river armor
it has lessened by middle impact on other harbors uh... and so we can get
there for the the lease cost to have the most impact
the southeast is gonna have a fifty further deeper harbor because ships have
to go far in
with export cargo treasure by the panama canal in the panama canal is fifty foot
capability
and
we think we're the only harbor in the southeast it can be truly post amex
cable meaning we can't handle
ships with deep draft twenty four-hours-a-day if we get deepen
is is you know we talk about fifty feet of jim and it seems like
uses the charleston harbors done
ships are going to be bigger
enemy deep reports
how does that
network in your head why i think that uh... there's a limit to how big ships
can get anne we're seeing a range of ships now that are gone requirement wean
forty eighteen fifty feet a draft
you know the depth of the ship below the waterline
and we can accommodate forty-eight friction for two hours on the time today
we need to remove that tire restriction and that's what our deepening project
aspires to do
and the idea being that will be able to handle ships up to fifty to fifty three
feet a draft without restriction in the future and that should be sufficient
ships like airplanes can only get so big
you know overall dimensions of a harbor and we got what i think we're seeing
those limits and what are being built now
eighty percent of ships on order though
shipra passed in orders beer drinking go through the panama canal today
interesting jack
jim we we've been seeing a resurgence of manufacturing in the carolinas the last
few years and and and and controlled areas as well threat in south carolina
we've seen a lot of great announcements and andrew interest in more manufactures
coming in
is there a trend that you guys you're seeing is that the port that uh... that
the some the exports there now coming through the at the domestic manufacture
says that somewhat offsetting some of the the downturn we've seen in the
import activities with products coming into the u_s_ there's no question and we
went through a period of time when we always thought we were doing
continue importing nl showing manufacturing and all of us and you've
seen really blockbuster announcements and in major brands such as bmw
michelin you know bridgestone continental
and these are our facilities that were export more than fifty percent of
production a lot of people are realizing i mean these are extremely it export
focused
facilities from global companies
and so it's a game changer for us coming because
ports only growing ship plans only come when there's a base cargo
and so this really is a significant for us in terms of growing our poor will
handle over two hundred thousand bmw x series car store port
uh... this year
which is a significant growth so your work side about that
it also helps the whole economics issue being because there's more of a balance
between imports and exports
was not so much dependent on dependence on the importantly doesn't doesn't have
been b_m_w_ number mh
pretty much make south carolina the largest
exporter of autos from this nation there's a larger i think being that is
the largest foreign
manufacturer producing in the u_s_ in exports
i think that's that this island and ignore supriya
yea i think what you're getting at is it
it we send the most callers out from from st i've heard something like that
recently yeah
questioner toys you had
into one thing is that encouraging about your tenure at the port has been you
realization that there's more to of poor operation and just the waterfront
but there's a back in this incredibly important to distinction south carolina
talk a little bit about that what you don't get with navy base in and how that
progresses
is occurring what's important is we grow to develop our infrastructure one
component of that's the harbor deepening the others building in new terminal at
the former navy base which is a terry acre terminal
uh... will spend about a hundred million dollars on over our capacity about fifty
percent
we dish we have to have facilities nearby laporte they can handle cargo
such as translate the silly tracker products we are in exporting them prior
call for products because china's raising their standard of living they're
having a growing middle class the founder million people that want
american ac product so we've gotta grow the handling capabilities around the
port
we have to see the inferred the interstate system improved and we've
gotta find a way to make better use a rail
hopefully uh... likes being done here charlie with the charlotte douglas
airport with the norfolk southern
and even more sure or rail to get trucks off the road because rum bar time with
increasing the the number of trucks hauling containing
follow up on on that there were we're excited about what's happened with
intermodal complex here at at the airport we think it's could be a game
changer for logistics not just in charlotte proper pat really briefly
throughout that state of south carolina as well
how do you guys see that impacting
your business over time do you think that's going to have a direct
correlation with some growth and and expansion of of your facilities
i do i mean anything that lowers are
good global logistics is a cost-cutting
and and companies move our cheapest way of moving cargo and anything that
lowers cost increases reliability use gonna help grow report is coming up our
region
i think we have to understand we're we're regional ports in the south east
we're not big cities like shanghai in new york and i long beach with
population centers of thirty million people
so we serve an entire region not just south carolina north carolina tennessee
georgia
and in anything that makes that
supply chain more seamless is going be helpful in rental is is inefficient mode
of transport it's cost effective
it has to grow because they're not going to be that much more truck a passed in
the future
dipping the sugar jimmy talk about charles and probably won't be thirty
million anytime soon but
you you look at the impact of
boeing in you look at
which you're talking about with the old naval yard
expansion of the ports authority you look at what with you've at some of the
rail debate that's going on in the and highway debate and i've got i think
we were talking on the phone the charleston's gonna breakout and break
open with some of these things going on you get that sense that it's it's right
on the cost of something much larger i really do i mean there's a whole
industry that helps companies locate new sites and and in the recession of owing
them and that was a pretty dorman industry if we're just hunkering down
and an open to survive
there a lot of projects have been jeff said earlier a lot of projects emotion
right now
people look in the ponnu distribution centers because the whole supply chain
has not really been optimized for global sourcing
we have mainly a supply chain this domestic oriented
so mid-size companies are looking to move distribution centers close reports
and manufacturing companies are looking to make
many do manufacturing close report so
it's a good friend for a sin in southeast porch outside we have to
remember that did developing countries do export germany exports forty percent
your gross domestic product
u_s_ as a country only exports eleven per se
so we have significant room to grow and and and we
make good products for the global market
david that we talked to promote about their culture and the fact that uh...
agar business in this country and there's a lot of manufacturing involved
in that
is growing dramatically because the man from around the world
was trust him for doing to get ready for that
well two years ago we had no trans little silk he's so travelers and so
this was uh... facility where you can receive grain or grain products and and
hopper cars
and really dumping on the conveyor input in containers we now have three such
facilities in charleston
and people are looking to expand in in these or facilities that can handle a
hundred containers a day in some cases so it's a game changer for ports by him
and and we see that trend continuing american food products are very
competitive in the world market and they are
as we see it a rising standard of living product
basically so they're they're they're heavily sought after sutter they're
they're competitive from price point or from uh... from a costing
to deliver from an availability meaning price point from a cost of getting there
from the desirable desirability point the quality of the radical one american
food products is is is a standard lewin grows american food products are
desirable
in my world economical but where were recruiting companies week we have
certain communities were always going up against and and kind of battling to to
win the deal
for for your side of the the business in the port industry
who do you guys really were
compete against the most and what do you kind of doing trying to differentiate
that the port in charleston versus some of your competition quickly here on the
east coast while major competition is the poorest of and i were to significant
ports within a hundred miles in each other
uh... they've done a great job billing their poured in the last decade and we
have to do the same now we lost some ground in that time
boot we really believe that our water depth or our capabilities short staining
from the open sea win-win bunker fuel for ship lines is very expensive
will give us a chance to reclaim you know our share the market because ships
are big
theft kidding ralph s still tweaking you bring up the cost of fuel that his
certainly been
uh... elise for the consumer the opinion of the united reiber cars
uh... a big issue but how does that impact with the activity that you've
seen
the recent months in going forward
that has a big impact i mean ship lines of are spending over seven hundred
dollars a ton and fuel and a it's more than the actual operating costs of the
ship
uh... so it affects where they deploy their ships no-one
uh... logistics is again a cost game some moshe perspiration would just be a
factor stood to truckers were railroads and the shipping lines who drives up the
cost of doing business
unit sustainable over time can have an adverse impact on long all sort of thing
i would say is their tipping point here where the cost of fuel your business
uh...
started generalize on that i mean i think shipping is the most
cost-efficient mode of transport per mile then rail second in trucks third
but but
uh... the more expensive it gets the more people look at sourcing closer to
the point to make a
environment
when they
past liqueurs as we were gonna start seeing some of these post and anxious
uh... it will be calling on the port of charleston
where's that stand in terms of the transformation of the canal and and
ships that are actually going to be coming here cliche thing is it's it's
already happening we see four five six ships today
uh... the shipping lines have not waited for the panama canal they actually are
going by the suez canal today we routinely scene nine thousand two u
ships
those ships are full they draft forty-eight feet of water and they need
a fifty to fifty two-foot harbor to uh... to come in and out without travel
restrictions so that's really
our whole investment thesis for the teachers how to handle those ships
in the benefit that brings this region if we can
give us a sense in real literally run out of time
on nine thousand two you ship how big is the ship
uh... shipper that says is about eleven or feet long
uh... it's about eighteen containers wide so about a hundred forty feet wide
and an address about forty-eight feet students about a hundred sixty five feet
above
what stupid
but jim thanks for being on the program you digested by spending it's the
congradulations on some of poured momentum on the deepening project
finally thanks it's good died jeff good to see a thanks for being a program
thank you chris goodman here uh... louis always i stand here and i think thank
you
till next week and chris what he will be weak and it's good
blue major funding for carolina business review was provided by it
the duke endowment a private foundation in charlotte enriching communities in
the carolinas through higher education healthcare rural churches and children's
services
blue cross and blue shield of north carolina who was responsible for rising
health care costs join blue cross and blue shield of north carolina and many
others in a candid discussion at let's talk costume dot com
grant fortune and international accounting tax and business advisory
organization dedicated to serving middle market companies grant fortune a passion
for the business of accounting
no font held including presbyterian in charlotte in forsyth in winston-salem
our affiliate heart hospitals of the cleveland clinic consistently ranked
number one in the nation for heart care
blue cross and blue shield of south carolina probably serving south
carolinians since nineteen forty six sunoko a global manufacturer of consumer
and industrial packaging products and provider of packaging services with more
than three hundred operations and thirty five countries and by viewers like you
thank you
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