Target follows Walmart in targeting Charleston distribution | Business

retail giant target company in through in port of charlestonof leatherman terminal These months.

Target, the second largest importer in the United States, after walmart, has been using a portable cross-dock hub built on the site of a future expansion of the North Charleston Pier since August. Such a setup allows the company to move cargo containers to one side of the building and load them onto trucks on the other side.Temporary facilities are provided by Minnesota’s Dokirato build portable loading systems and warehouses.

Target aims to move 15,000 containers of goods through the site in a year – with the potential to increase to 50,000 per year – according to SC National Port Authority.

“It’s a temporary warehouse and they’ll be looking for a permanent home,” he said. Barbara MelvinSPA president and CEO tells lawmakers at a meeting House Ways and Means Committee Meeting in Colombia last week. “So we’re putting on a show for them as they continue to kick the tires in Charleston.”

A spokesperson for Target said the company is “continuously evaluating potential supply chain facility locations to serve our guests,” but added, “We do not have any new supply chain facility information to share at this time.”

The Minneapolis-based chain isn’t the only retailer with stores in the port. amazon Has been operating out of the Cross Dock site at the SPA Wando Welch Pier In Mount Pleasant, 27,000 containers are expected to pass through it by 2022. Melvin told lawmakers the site has “tremendous growth potential.”

Walmart, America’s largest retailer, has found a permanent foothold near the port when it opened a 3-million-square-foot import distribution center on land owned by Ridgeville Spa. The $220 million Dorchester County site, which officially opened in April, is the size of 52 football fields. In 2022, it moved 70,000 containers through the port, mostly Asian-made goods.

The retail focus is part of SPA’s efforts to diversify its freight base beyond the advanced manufacturing customers it has served for more than a decade.

Businesses like Walmart “do a lot of due diligence” before choosing a location, and their presence in the Charleston area gives the port an edge in attracting other retailers, Melvin said.

“We were able to build that momentum by successfully handling their shipments,” she said.

Now, Walmart is bringing shipping containers to Ridgeville Business ParkThe SPA is looking for an exporter – Melvin mentioned agricultural or forest products companies as a possibility – to get the boxes back to port through an exporter norfolk south The railway line that passes through the hotel.

“This gives us the opportunity to take an empty import box, fill it with export transshipment … and ship that box back to the port,” Melvin said. “If you think about what Walmart does to us, it’s probably up to 100,000 … We can fill a container full of exports every year. … I think this site represents one of the largest transshipment sites in the Southeast. So this is where we continue to A gem to market.”

From KC to SC

A Kansas City development firm is making forays into Palmetto State with three speculative warehouse projects, including one on the busy Clements Ferry section of Charleston.

Hunter Midwest Plans have been submitted to state regulators to build a 163,800-square-foot warehouse on nearly 13.9 wooded acres at the intersection of Clements Ferry and Charleston Regional Parkway.This South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control The project is under review as the development will affect approximately half an acre of wetlands. The project will also include 186 parking spaces.

The building will be located in an industrial area that already includes the manufacturer Stobar, USA and Mankiewicz Coatings and third-party logistics companies Kangtian Logistics.

The Charleston site is behind Hunt, a 476,280-square-foot warehouse built by Welford.construction Taizibao Logistics Center It ended earlier this month on a 47-acre property west of Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County.

“The location is perfectly situated at the intersection of growing manufacturing and logistics corridors and a highly skilled workforce,” mike bellHunt’s senior vice president of commercial real estate said in a written statement. “BMW, Walmart, FedEx and Inland Port Greer’s billions of dollars invested in this part of Upstate is a testament to the region’s importance to the entire East Coast economy.”

Another northern project, 259,000 sq. ft. Evergreen Logistics Parkis about to be completed in Anderson County.

All told, Hunt says it plans to build 2 million square feet of industrial space in South Carolina over the next few years. The privately held company has built more than $2 billion in industrial, self storage, residential, multifamily and senior living centers in eight states.