By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
Palmetto Railways recently cleared a major hurdle for its years-in-the-making Camp Hall line project in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The short line finalized an easement agreement with utility provider Santee Cooper to use its land for part of the $140 million, 22.7-mile rail line.
The line will connect the more than 6,000-acre Camp Hall Commerce Park — which will be managed by Santee Cooper — to existing railroad right of way located near the utility’s Cooper Cross generating station in Berkeley County. The station uses coal delivered to the facility by CSX to generate power.
Palmetto Railways will construct, own and operate the Camp Hall trackage, which will connect to a CSX line. The short line plans to develop a new subdivision to manage the route, which has been in the planning stages for about five years.
Construction is anticipated to start in early 2022 and take about 20 months to complete, says Patrick McCrory, Palmetto Railways’ vice president and chief commercial officer.
The two major landowners with property along the planned route are Santee Cooper and Weyerhaeuser Co., which owns many acres of timberlands along the right of way, he says. Palmetto Railways already has reached a memorandum of agreement with Weyerhaeuser regarding several property pacts.
A map shows the line’s planned route from the more than 6,000-acre Camp Hall Commerce Park to a CSX line in northern Berkeley County, South Carolina. Palmetto RailwaysThe Camp Hall line will serve tenants at the industrial park seeking transportation, distribution and logistics services. A major current tenant is a Volvo plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, that produces about 150,000 S60 mid-size sedans annually. The 2.3 million-square-foot facility will use the line to move autos to various destination points.
The Camp Hall project will open the door to greater industrial development efforts that support the state economy, says McCrory.
“It’s a tool to help the state,” he says, adding the industrial park will help create 2,000 jobs in Berkeley County.
For Palmetto Railways, the line will help spur business growth and generate more revenue.
“It helps with both of those goals, but ultimately, it’s an industrial development project,” says McCrory.
Palmetto Railways similarly is working with Norfolk Southern Railway to develop a two-mile rail spur in Richland County for a new Mark Anthony Brewing Inc. plant that produces White Claw hard seltzer, Mike’s Hard and Harder Lemonades, and Cayman Jack Cocktails. The spur is slated for completion by year’s end.
As for further advancing the Camp Hall line — which previously landed a $25 million federal grant — “lots will happen over the next six months,” says McCrory. Within that timeframe, the short line expects to complete final design, acquire all remaining right of way and “pull the trigger” on promised state funding, he says.
