More containers, more trade

Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world’s secondlargest container carrier, has included the Port of Charleston as part of its Golden Gate Service through the Suez Canal. The company deploys 12 vessels with a capacity of 6,050 20–foot equivalent units or containers. Mediterranean will be making weekly stops at Charleston’s Wando terminal beginning in February. Charleston fits into the Golden Gate rotation as follows: Shanghai, Ningbo, Chiwan and Yantian, China; Singapore; Salalah, Oman; Suez Canal; New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Va., and Charleston in the U.S.A.; Freeport, Bahamas; Suez Canal; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Singapore; Chiwan; Hong Kong.

And more containers

Charlotte–based retailer Belk Inc. recently announced it will begin importing more than 1,000 shipping containers annually through Charleston. Belk has about 300 department stores in the Southeast, and its two main distribution centers are in nearby Blythewood and Jackson, Miss.

Time off

The South Carolina Forestry Commission is saving $200,000 by instituting a mandatory five–day furlough for its employees, all 360 of them. This is the agency’s second furlough for the current fiscal year. The individual furloughs will be taken between January 2 and June 30 of this year.

Occupancy rate downtown

Once the new 18–story Main & Gervais office building is occupied, which is probably this summer, and once the new tenants leave their former office space downtown behind, downtown Columbia will have an occupancy rate of almost 72 percent. In 2002, it was about 91 percent. So much available and affordable class-A office space downtown suggests an opportune time to attract new downtown tenants.

Boeing

By 2016, expect Boeing’s North Charleston operation to employ 6,400 people in its assembly of the 787 Dreamliner. Over seven years, Boeing is likely to invest at least the $750 million required to qualify for $170 million in financial incentives from the State of S.C.

Spartan Foods sold

Linsalata Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Ohio, has bought Spartanburg–based Spartan Foods, a 200–employee firm that manufactures and distributes gourmet pizza crusts and ready–made pancakes under the Mama Mary’s brand name. Spartan also produces a line of frozen retail pizzas under the Mystic Pizza brand name.

The newspaper business

In South Carolina, Heartland Publications, a

Connecticut–based newspaper publisher, owns The

Union Daily Times, Newberry Observer, The

Powdersville Post, The Easley Progress, The Pickens

Sentinel, Herald Independent, and The Cheraw

Chronicle. Heartland recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it planned for a pre–negotiated reorganization. The company says it will reduce its debt by half in order to establish a new capital structure, all completed by early spring of 2010.

Bleak job market

According to the career center at USC, the number of employers at the university’s career events dropped by almost half in the past year, from 200 last year to 108 this year.

Classic Ford acquires Lincoln Mercury franchise

The Lincoln Mercury franchise at the Stivers Automotive Groups shifted to Classic Ford. The newly consolidated Classic Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership with its service operation is located at 177 Greystone Boulevard between the zoo and Broad River Road.

More at the Moore School

The growing field of risk management has gained another foothold at USC’s Darla Moore School of Business in the form of a new chapter of the Global Association of Risk Professionals. The association, which has chapters in 20 academic institutions in 10 countries, offers professional development opportunities for practitioners in risk management.

Husqvarna

The world’s largest producer of lawn mowers, Husqvama, will soon locate a parts distribution operation in Lexington County. The company expects to invest more than $2.5 million for its new space in the Midway Logistics Park. Besides lawn mowers, the company produces chainsaws and portable gasolinepowered garden equipment such as trimmers and blowers.