Beyond the Docks : From Inland Ports to Transloading

Special Report

RoadOne follows growing demand for container transloading to Charleston

By William B . Cassidy both East Coast and West Coast ports and as importers increasingly deconsolidate containerized freight near ports to better manage the flow of goods inland .

RoadOne ’ s expansion tracks higher container volumes arriving at Charleston and other Southeast ports . From January through April , laden imports into Charleston from Asia totaled 225,688 TEUs , according to PIERS , a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global . That ’ s up 17.3 % from the same period a year ago .

RoadOne said it will build a 100-acre distribution and transload center in Sumnerville , SC , near the Charleston port . The facility will be built in two phases , with the first

RoadOne IntermodaLogistics is building out its transloading capacity in the US Southeast with a facility that will eventually have more than 660,000 square feet of distribution space near the Port of Charleston .

The new site , the first phase of which is slated for completion next January , will be the first transload facility for RoadOne at Charleston , the ninth-busiest North American container port by volume , according to Journal of Commerce data .

“ This will be a big addition to RoadOne as we are adding another Top 10 port in the US to our transload footprint with great access to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions ,” the company told the Journal of Commerce .

The project comes as US import volumes increase at

“ When I started , most of my customers had two or three DCs , now they may have 35 to 40 .”

phase due to be completed in January and the second phase in January 2027 .

The first phase will feature a 384,800-square-foot facility and 13 acres of dedicated trailer and container parking , the company said . The second phase will add 279,720 square feet and 10 acres of container and trailer parking . The Sumnerville site will represent a significant

Transload providers are ramping up in response to growing demand for more agile inland distribution options . Shutterstock . com

34 Journal of Commerce | July 1 , 2024 www . joc . com