Proposal for New Charleston Cruise Port Falls Flat

A proposal for a new cruise terminal near Charleston, South Carolina, has been rejected. Mount Pleasant officials unanimously rejected plans to develop the cruise dock at Patriots Point due to an existing state law forbidding cruise ships.

This comes as cruise ship operations in downtown Charleston will end later this year.

State Law Bans Ships at Mount Pleasant

Local businesses and the Longshoreman’s Association union had supported a new cruise dock to safeguard jobs and economic activity generated by cruise ship traffic. 

Mount Pleasant officials say the wording of state law does not allow the use of “piers, ships, docks, quays or similar structures” at the proposed Patriots Point site. Under the law, Patriots Point cannot have an “embarkation port, disembarkation port, port of call, or to otherwise load and unload passengers of cruise ships.” State law established the Patriots Point Development Authority, allowing for a boat dock, but specifically banning ocean-bound ship operations.

Benjamin Flowers Jr., VP of the International Longshoreman’s Association, says hundreds of jobs are now in jeopardy. The Patriots Point plan was mooted after the South Carolina Ports Authority chose to redevelop downtown Charleston’s Union Pier without homeporting cruise ships anymore.

The Ports Authority recently sold Union Pier to a local business owner.  

Carnival Homeporting in Charleston Ends This Year

It declined to renew Carnival Cruise Line’s contract at Union Pier, which is set to expire later this year when Carnival Sunshine sails her final voyage from the port in December.

The cruise line started sailing from Charleston more than a decade ago. With increasingly larger ships docking, the impact of cruise ship traffic in Charleston had become a contentious issue.

“While exciting for the future of Charleston, the redevelopment of Union Pier Terminal will unfortunately mean Carnival will no longer homeport a ship in Charleston. We will work with the Ports Authority to explore future opportunities,” Carnival Cruise Line said.

Plans for a new cruise terminal in Charleston were proposed a few years ago but were held up by lawsuits from conservation and historical preservation groups opposing it.