SC ports spending $400K on flood barriers to protect BMWs, other cargo at export terminal (2024)

The S.C. State Ports Authority is spending $400,000 on flood barriers to help protect vehicles waiting for export to foreign markets from water damage at the low-lying Columbus Street Terminal in Charleston.

The SPA's board of directors recently approved the purchase of Aqua Dams— removable water-filled barriers— to hold back tidal floodwater at the property's south end, where BMWs built at the German automaker's Upstate factory are parked before being loaded onto large car carriers for trips overseas.

The structures are expected to be delivered and installed by the end of July.

The Aqua Dams, an alternative to sandbags, are made of polyethylene tubes that can be filled with water to provide a temporary barrier against flooding. They are made by California-based Aqua Dam Inc.

"They will be put in place with openings in them that can be filled rapidly when a storm is coming and they will protect the vehicles that are inside that area," said Walter Lagarenne, the SPA's vice president of engineering and facilities.

The ones to be installed at Columbus Street Terminal will be able to protect against tidal flooding of up to 11 feet. That's about 1½ feet taller than a December weather event that damaged hundreds of privately owned cars at the SPA's Union Pier Terminal about 2 miles south of the Columbus Street yard. Passengers vacationing on the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship returned to the terminal to find their vehicles waterlogged after their voyage.

Neither the SPA nor BMW would confirm reports that vehicles were also damaged at Columbus Street Terminal during that storm.

The maritime agency exported 204,481 automobiles, mostly BMWs, from Columbus Street Terminal in 2023, about 2.6 percent more than the previous year.

The Aqua Dams are part of a resiliency plan the SPA has for the terminal that also includes the installation of tide valves and pumps to help move water off the parking area.

In March, the authority’s board approved spending nearly $2 million to pave 18 acres at the Leatherman Terminal on the former Navy base in North Charleston so BMWs can be moved to that property when a big storm is approaching. The backup storage area will be behind the existing container yard, away from the waterfront.