That little beauty above is a car carrier heading down the Cooper River in Charleston on Monday. Those purpose-built vessels hold about 5,000 vehicles, in this case BMW SUV's.
I'm not sure if the following tidbit of info is an important economic indicator, but maybe it is. 4 years ago I stayed a week at the Charleston Maritime Center and immediately south of the marina these behemoths came in daily and belched out imported BMW's, including MINI's, which were then transported to the US market. This year the dock to the south is used for cruise ships, but the dock immediately north of the marina has these same behemoths coming and going, but now they are gobbling up South Carolina built BMW SUV's for export (possibly to other US ports).
Coincidentally, the NY Times recently published this article about BMW's South Carolina operation.
Right now, the greater Charleston area is growing fast, and its economy seems healthy to me.
Posted with Blogsy
Hi Folks,
ReplyDeleteStumbled upon your blog recently and have been following. You are near my home port of Edisto Island, SC. Also, you mentioned Charleston and the BMW's. My real home is about 10 miles from BMW in the upstate of SC. Yes, BMW is booming and so is the Charleston port.
Good luck and warm weather on your southern journey.
Rob