No cargo pickups or drop-offs were occurring throughout the South Carolina Ports Authority’s (SC Ports’) network Tuesday morning as SC Ports faced a second day dealing with a software issue that has disrupted its operations.
“SC Ports has made further progress on our gate issue, but it is not entirely resolved,” the port authority said in an advisory posted on its website at 10 am local time Tuesday. “We understand the impact that this issue is having on our partners in the industry.”
SC Ports planned to resume full operations at its marine terminals and inland ports at 5 am Tuesday after it was forced to close all terminal gates to truckers on Monday in Charleston and at inland ports Dillon and Greer because of the software malfunction. But with the issue not entirely resolved, the 5 am restart time was scuttled.
“SC Ports is working diligently to resume all operations as quickly as possible following a vendor software issue that impacted a server,” it said. “Work is progressing, and many systems have been restored.”
The port authority said Monday the issue did “not appear to be a cybersecurity issue.”
Few details are known about the extent of the software issue and whether it impacts only the truck gates or all operations inside the terminals such as ship-to-shore cranes, yard hostler vehicles and container stacks.
A spokesperson for SC Ports, in response to questions from the Journal of Commerce on Monday, said: “For security reasons, we are not going to detail our systems.”
A source with knowledge of the problem, however, called the software issue “temporary,” and added that “other operations are ongoing.”
“We were able to continue working vessels over the weekend and today and will continue to do so as able,” the source said.
Rail ramps affected
The closure affects the 6,000 to 8,000 truck transactions per day that the port authority handles, including the 500 to 650 containers outgated on trucks that are taken to terminals run by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). If the situation is not cleared up shortly, CSX and NS will have to develop a plan to prevent its terminals from being overrun with exports.
The closures of Inland Port Dillon and Inland Port Greer might have a cascade effect on Memphis business if SC Ports doesn’t reopen on Tuesday morning. On an average day, about 100 ocean containers travel between Charleston and Memphis in either direction.
SC Ports was also beginning to see a backlog of vessels, with eight container ships docked outside Charleston as of Monday afternoon.
Source:
Ashe, A. (2024, May 21). Gates remain closed at Charleston, inland ports amid ongoing software issue. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/gates-remain-closed-charleston-inland-ports-amid-ongoing-software-issue_20240521.html