Boeing recently announced that they had chosen South Carolina as the location for a second production line for their 787 Dreamliner long-haul jet.  The Company current has a fuselage assembly and installation operation in South Carolina and this latest move will be a dramatic expansion of those capabilities.  According to Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes:

“This decision allows us to continue building on the synergies we have established in South Carolina with Boeing Charleston and Global Aeronautica”

Union officials in Everett Washington, the home of the current production line, were less than enthusiastic.  Union leader Tom Wroblewski said Boeing has:

“has betrayed our loyalty once again, walking away from our discussions.”

I guess you can’t please all of the people all of the time.  The Boeing announcement comes on the heals of the announcement by South Carolina that shipping giant Maersk has agreed to continue operations at the Port of Charleston (after announcing they would be leaving).  All in all, it’s been a great month for South Carolina economic development news.

Maersk Line announced yesterday that they continue operations in Charleston, South Carolina through 2014.  This is a reversal of a previous decision by the line to leave the east coast port.  This is obviously great news for Charleston and demonstrates their commitment to serving their shipping line clients in the best possible manner.