The Port of Charleston is navigating a cooler container market as a global “trade reset” tempers import demand and changes how carriers deploy ships. South Carolina Ports’ latest tally shows September throughput of 212,363 TEUs — a touch below plan — underscoring that tariff whiplash and shifting service patterns are taking some air out of box volumes heading into Q4.
Fresh policy moves are adding friction. As of October 14, the U.S. and China have imposed reciprocal port fees on vessels linked to each other’s nations, prompting carriers to reshuffle fleets to dodge charges. Early effects include tighter ship availability and a jump in trans-Pacific spot measures, a cocktail that tends to bunch arrivals and widen gaps between calls at East Coast gateways like Charleston — a headache for drayage planning and driver scheduling.
The near-term softness in boxes contrasts with strength elsewhere in South Carolina’s freight mix. SC Ports reported robust inland and vehicle momentum to close the first quarter of fiscal 2026: Inland Port Greer handled 17,818 rail moves in September (up 18% year over year), Inland Port Dillon set a monthly record with 4,888 moves, and vehicle volumes rose 6% to 16,122 units. For truckers, that tilts opportunities toward short-haul railhead drays and automotive flows even as traditional import runs from the waterfront ease.
Capacity investments are reinforcing that inland pivot. The Greer expansion — now enabling up to 300,000 rail lifts annually — is designed to pull more boxes inland faster, smoothing yard congestion at the coast and creating steadier round-trip opportunities between upstate distribution clusters and rail ramps. Motor carriers serving Spartanburg–Greenville manufacturing and retail nodes should expect steadier demand for chassis turns tied to those rail lifts, even if pier-to-warehouse import work moderates.
On the water side, Charleston remains operationally stable, with no new berth constraints beyond standard draft practices noted this week. That reliability, paired with the harbor’s deepwater advantage and multiple big-ship berths, should help the port absorb lumpy schedules stemming from fee-driven vessel reassignments — but it won’t eliminate the near-term variability in box availability that carriers and BCOs are signaling. Expect more week-to-week swing in dray counts and tighter cutoff windows as services adjust.
What this means for trucking in South Carolina:
– Prepare for thinner import turns and more volatile day-of-week volumes as blank sailings and deployment shifts ripple through carrier schedules.
– Lean into rail-connected work. With Greer and Dillon ramping up, the most resilient freight near-term is likely to be port-to-ramp and ramp-to-DC shuttle work tied to inland lifts.
– Watch automotive and export pockets. Vehicle moves and targeted export programs (such as ag loads moving by box) are cushioning the slowdown in consumer imports and can backfill lanes that would otherwise sit idle.
The bottom line: Charleston’s container story has downshifted from last year’s pace, not because of congestion or capacity at the terminal, but because policy-induced “reset” dynamics are re-slicing trade and carrier networks. For carriers and brokers on the ground, the playbook is agility — pivot to inland rail flows, tighten dispatch around bunching ship calls, and price lanes with more schedule risk baked in while policy turbulence runs its course.
Sources: FreightWaves, Reuters, SC Ports Authority, AJOT, Maritime Professional, Container News, Moran Shipping
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