North Carolina’s Council of State today approved the North Carolina State Ports Authority’s purchase of a 600-acre tract on the west bank of the Cape Fear River in Brunswick County. The land, adjacent to the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point and Progress Energy’s Brunswick Nuclear Plant and zoned for industrial use, is the site of the Ports Authority’s proposed North Carolina International Port (NCIP).

“We are very early in the process, but this is a key step toward our goal of building a major new economic engine for North Carolina,” said Tom Eagar, Ports Authority CEO. “The N.C. International Port will provide a ‘missing link,’ a gigantic boost to economic development to attract the major manufacturing and assembly plants which require access to deepwater port facilities with global service coverage,”

Early and conservative estimates of the economic benefits this facility would generate are nearly 50,000 jobs statewide and more than $50 million in local and state tax revenues each year.

Conceptual plans for the NCIP also include an industrial park on site for distribution centers or related operations, to eventually generate up to 2,000 direct jobs and almost 3,500 indirect jobs.

The next step in the process is the closing, expected the end of March. After that, the Ports Authority will begin work on the environmental impact study, which will involve extensive public outreach. During the same time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will perform an economic impact assessment for the dredging which would be part of the project.

Development of the NCIP is expected to take eight to 10 years. It is envisioned as a world-class container terminal, with a capacity of 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units a year – putting North Carolina’s port facilities in the same class as Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama for the first time.

The Council of State is required by law to approve real estate transactions made by the Ports Authority. The Council includes the governor, lieutenant governor, and the eight other statewide elected officials. The NCIP property purchase was considered at the Council’s regular monthly meeting.
Source: Press Release