Delay tactic could pay off big for S.C.

Ever hear of an Aunt Emma? It’s a croquet term, usually given to someone who, instead of trying to score or succeed on their own terms, simply tries to block or impede the success of their opponent.

Probably some folks in Georgia think the Savannah River Maritime Commission is a bit of an Aunt Emma (and that’s putting it politely).

The small, recently formed South Carolina agency is at the center of the dispute regarding the proposed deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel. The commission has asked to join an already existing lawsuit saying the project would need a South Carolina pollution permit to operate because of the potential to dump toxic cadmium in the S.C. side of the river when and if the 36-mile channel is dredged.

Sounds like a legitimate cause, but make no mistake, getting a Southeast harbor deepened is a game with some mighty high consequences.

Many Southeast and Gulf harbors are wading through extensive studies to determine whether their ports can be dredged to the 50-feet threshold needed to accompany the large container ships that are expected to be headed this way in 2014 once the Panama Canal is deepened.

These ships make up only 16 percent of the world’s maritime shipping fleet, but carry nearly 50 percent of its cargo. When 2014 rolls around, only New York City, Baltimore and Norfolk, Va., will have the requisite depth. Miami will soon follow and Savannah will be along just after that ... or maybe not that quickly if an S.C. pollution permit is needed.

Delay for the Savannah project could allow Charleston to catch up. The city is looking at a dredging study of its own, with the Army Corps of Engineers announcing a deepened port could be ready by 2020. That’s four years earlier than expected.

That’s good news, but Savannah is still ahead, having completed its 14-year study in April (Charleston’s will be done in about four years).

That’s really Savannah’s only advantage in the deep harbor race. Savannah’s toll for the project is $652 million, more than double Charleston’s proposed $300 million cost. Charleston can win the harbor race and billions in economic development dollars and tax receipts — if someone can just slow Savannah down a bit.

By getting involved with a pending lawsuit against the Savannah project, the South Carolina agency, created out of whole cloth by the S.C. Legislature, could be accused of muddying the waters a bit until they can catch up.

Charleston is the better, more natural harbor. Its defensive moves now could pay off in a big way if it ultimately knocks those large, moneymaking container ships 100 miles up the coast.