This past Thursday night, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a public hearing on the expansion of the port at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. The public now has until Dec. 19 to make their comments known to the Corps. Our Chamber was present to speak on behalf of the business community and to ask the Corps to move quickly to issue the permit to build this new terminal. We were joined by hundreds of port supporters including representatives from the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, the Berkeley Chamber, Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber, the Maritime Association of the Port of Charleston, the South Carolina Economic Developers Association and others.

I would characterize the comments Thursday night in two ways. One, there is support for the port terminal.

Almost everyone who spoke Thursday night supports the expansion. The other theme Thursday night is a concern over the impact of the expansion - specifically the impact to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Both the opponents and supporters of the project expressed that concern.

The Port of Charleston is a vital economic engine to not only our region, but to our entire state. It has been working for years to try to find a location for expansion and the General Assembly's decision to direct the Ports Authority to the former Navy Base was a good and wise one.

The new terminal will be built on a location that was used by the Navy as an industrial site for many, many years. There is virtually no other use for the land that would be appropriate. In addition to the reuse of the property, the Legislature has agreed an access road should be built to connect the new terminal to I-26 to handle the port traffic, including trucks. The proposed southern route for the road will by-pass the neighborhoods around the outside of the former base, taking away traffic and the dangers associated with it. It is clearly the option that must be chosen.

The winners for this project are all around - the neighborhoods will see traffic relief, the community will have land re-developed, and the entire region will see additional economic prosperity from the expansion, both in the construction phase and in the long-term operation of the new terminal.

The Chamber also strongly believes that while the benefits outweigh the negatives - we must address the impacts and protect the quality of life for the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. We are committed to working with the Ports Authority, the City of North Charleston and the Maritime Association to make that happen.

For the past 12 months, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce has been working on what we call our Port Development effort.

For us, the urgency of this issue moved to a higher level when we had a presentation by the State Ports Authority at our monthly board of directors. We had asked for the update from the port. What we heard was eye-opening and alarming.

What we learned that day was that while we were focused on other issues in our community and state, the state of Georgia and Port of Savannah had been quietly working on expanding the Port of Savannah and to put it bluntly, they were not just succeeding, they were "cleaning our clocks".

A new tax incentive had been developed by Georgia about five years earlier and as a result the state of Georgia and Port of Savannah had not just grown the port's business - it had doubled the amount of cargo handled in less than five years.

A number of large distribution centers had located to the Savannah area providing thousands of new jobs.

During the same period there had been dramatic changes in the international shipping community. A number of mergers had taken place, the ships were becoming larger - all of this meaning fewer ships to call on ports. The large distribution facilities also import and export so much cargo, the shipping lines call on the ports where the distribution facilities want them to go. With the new Georgia tax incentive, the distribution centers in Georgia were directing their business to Savannah.

Our board realized that we needed to mobilize and do everything possible to support the expansion of the Port of Charleston. Since its founding in 1773, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce has supported the expansion of our region's economy and quality of life and this time we would do it again. The port and its operations have always been a part of our work because the very foundation of our region's economy is based on activities of the port and the maritime community.

We began traveling the state, briefing the business community in the upstate, the midlands, along the coast. What we found was broad support for the expansion of the port and the agreement to help our cause. We have had a tougher time in our own community. There are still memories of the Global Gateway that was proposed for Daniel Island a few years ago and questions of trust remain.

The proposed terminal on the Navy Base is no Global Gateway. It is a 280-acre site that has always been used for industrial purposes.

The site will provide room for three berths and will be about the size of the Wando Terminal. By comparison, the Global Gateway would have been more than three times that large.

The supporters Thursday night all wore stickers that said "Port = Jobs."

Those jobs are vital to our region and our state. We must move this process forward in away that mitigates the impact, maximizes the opportunity and positions our Port for success.

I urge you to let the Army Corps of Engineers know that port expansion must happen.

Brian Moody is chairman of the board of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.