Two weeks ago, over 200 people, “a clear majority opposed to the new terminal,” turned out for a hearing at the old Navy Base in North Charleston conducted by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), the federal agency that must approve five new pilings for the proposed terminal requested by the SC State Ports Authority (SPA).(1)

Mayor Joseph Riley and other supporters of unregulated cruise ship tourism downtown spoke in favor of the proposed terminal at Union Pier. Their arguments were so weak as to invite ridicule. Let’s break ’em down.

Their “Airport” Argument goes like this, “I was born in Charleston, my family has worked on the docks for years…and you got here late…you knew the docks were here when you moved here.” Or, “This has been a maritime city for 300 years and…” This argument would be terrific if the maritime traffic and the ships were remotely as they were 300 years ago. Or 30 years ago. But the romantic sailing ships are gone; ships today don’t look like “The Spirit of South Carolina.” Cruise ships have nothing to do with cargo shipping except that both types of ships float. The modern cruise industry was born just 40 years ago, in l972, when Carnival Cruise Lines was formed.(2) Sure, there were passenger ships before then, but not on the size or scale of Carnival’s 100 ship fleet. The largest ship 100 years ago, in l912, the Titanic, weighed 46,000 tons, had 9 decks, and was 882 feet long.(3) That compares to the Carnival “Fantasy,” the oldest, and one of the smallest, ships in Carnival’s fleet that’s home-ported in Charleston: 70,367 tons, 14 decks, 855 feet long. But “‘The Fantasy,’ launched in 1990, is a floating testament to the Carnival way. Give the passenger a fun-filled vacation at a price they can afford, and they’ll be back for more!”(4) She changed the industry, so much so that Carnival built seven more ships like her before they started building even bigger ships! The Carnival “Dream” is 1004 feet long and carries 3646 passengers.(5)

Yet Mayor Riley had the temerity to say, “It is the same business, the same cruise activity, that is currently going on in Charleston.”(1) It’s a rapidly growing industry, not “the same business,” and Riley knows it. The cruise ship industry grew 8% in 2011 and another 6% this year!(6) The cruise industry is like nothing from the past, and the new ships coming on line are nothing like the “Fantasy” in size or impact; they’re bigger and bigger coming from an industry experiencing explosive growth.(7) Let’s turn the “Airport Argument” on its head. Charleston has an opportunity to move the cruise terminal anywhere–almost 50% of the State Ports Authority terminal space is unused or underused. So if any city had an opportunity to build an airport–or a cruise terminal–downtown, especially when most of the traffic from either is going somewhere else, would it? No. Is Boeing’s new Dreamliner like the planes of the past? No.

There was the “Jobs” Argument. No one actually said, “jobs, not snobs,” but they came close. The reality is that there will be just as many jobs–and likely more–if the terminal were moved north to Columbus Street or the Veterans terminal. Why? Because then the logical demands for regulations and controls would be less–and larger ships could come in without damaging historic Charleston or more profitable tourism. The “Jobs” Argument is specious.

There was the nonsensical “No Soot” Argument. “I work with 85% of the cruise ships that come in here, and I park my white truck right next to them. It never gets soot on it.” Perhaps, sir, that is because the top deck of the ship rises 40 meters, 130′, above the water–and the Carnival “Fantasy’s” tail–where the soot belches out–is well above that. Do cruise ship passengers get soot on them? No, that’s why ships have “tails” or funnels, but that soot–with heavy carcinogen-laden particles–drifts over the waterfront and Ansonborough.(8) Park your white truck there.

Then there was the “it’s only a one-berth terminal” argument. Mayor Riley said that right out of the box. That’s not true, either. The pier at Union Pier is 1800′. You now know that the “Fantasy” is 885 feet long. You do the math. Apparently no one else can.

And, finally, “five pilings is all we’re talking about” argument. Five pilings didn’t bring out over 200 people out during their dinner hour. The new ship terminal would be far bigger than the older one, facilitating an uncontrollable level of cruise ship traffic and tourism that is certain to damage Historic Charleston’s geographically limited capacity and resources to handle. At the meeting, “Downtown resident Courtenay McDowell said cruise-ship operations have approached a tipping point in the livability of the area. ‘I speak of what’s happening today in fear of what will happen tomorrow, with more cruise ships,’ she said.”

The evidence that we and others have presented over the past year allow for only one conclusion.(9) Once a cruise ship terminal is built downtown at Union Pier, the result will be an historic, environmental, cultural, and financial disaster for Charleston. If you’re looking back at the past 300 years of maritime history, you won’t believe that. But if you’re looking ahead at the growth of the modern cruise-tourism industry, you will.

Jay Williams, Jr.
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