Last week, Maersk shipping lines announced that they will be leaving the Port of Charleston by the end of 2010.  It’s not that Maersk didn’t want to be in Charleston.  On the contrary, they worked to find solutions where they could stay.  However, in the end, it was a matter of operating costs.  Maersk, operating its own dedicated terminal, must use union labor.  The company has asked for permission to relocate its operations to the common yard.  Unfortunately, the ILA did not provide the necessary consent.  Maybe they thought Maersk was bluffing.  Maybe they just didn’t think it through.  However, now Maersk is leaving and come 2010, those ILA jobs will be lost.

On the plus side, Maersk will relocate the services that previously called upon Charleston.  It’s a good bet that a fair amount of that traffic will go to Virginia, where Maersk recently built a $500 million automated terminal.