North Carolina International Port

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The North Carolina International Port is a proposed seaport that will be located north of Southport, North Carolina; it is scheduled to be completed between 2014 and 2016.

On December 29, 2005, the North Carolina State Ports Authority agreed to purchase 600 acres owned by Pfizer, who bought the land for a citric acid production plant (the plant now belongs to Archer Daniels Midland). The authority sees current facilities in Wilmington and Morehead City as inadequate for international trade via container ships, particularly trade with China.

The proposed port will be one of the largest facilities on the U.S. East Coast; its capacity will be 2 million containers a year. The dock will be 4,000 feet long, capable of accommodating four container ships at once. The total cost of building the port is expected to be $1 billion, including dredging the Cape Fear River to 50 feet deep as well as improvements to road and rail.

The port will finally realize the vision of Southport civic leaders, who changed the name of the town from Smithville in 1887 to promote it as the "Port of the South."

[edit] References

Brunswick port price tag: $1 billion; Will dwarf Wilmington facility in size: The Star-News (Wilmington, North Carolina)