Palmetto Navy Base Site Redevelopment

Consistently ranked as one of America’s most productive ports, the Port of Charleston has traded over $63 billion of imports and exports across its docks to date.

In the late 2010s, South Carolina rail company Palmetto Railways launched a multi-phase project to improve the port’s economic throughput and traffic flow. Palmetto Railways’ overall goal was to redevelop portions of the site of the former Charleston Naval Complex into an Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) in order to increase South Carolina’s throughput capacity and meet projected future intermodal growth within the region.

Conti performed Phase 1 of the ICTF project, which involved the demolition of dilapidated buildings, site grading and surcharge, and paving of portions of the 130-acre site to support future infrastructure development. Conti obtained the encroachment permit, site clearing permit, and digging permit for this project.

The team demolished and removed nearly 60 buildings and obstructions on the site, including large naval training centers and over 41,300 square yards of concrete from foundations, slabs, and sidewalks. During the earthwork, the team excavated and removed over 92,000 feet of pipes at depths down to 15 feet.

Conti excavated a large amount of unmarked utilities throughout the project. The team avoided schedule delays by coordinating with Palmetto Railways and local utility companies such as North Charleston Sewer and Water immediately after uncovering potential conflicts. Conti’s then marked the location of the utilities on an evolving site layout to better predict where the next conflict would be found.

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This project is the first phase in the plan to remediate and redevelop land for the benefit of Charleston’s economy.