Jasper Ocean Terminal (JOT), the long-mooted new box terminal on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River, has taken a step forward with a new joint venture agreement that provides the necessary framework for Georgia and South Carolina to work cooperatively toward its development.

“The JOT Joint Project Office was first established under an intergovernmental agreement signed in 2008 by the previous Governors of Georgia and South Carolina. This new agreement takes effect immediately and continues the work of the JOT” the port authorities said in a press release.

JOT was the subject of years of jurisdictional legal wrangling between Jasper County, South Carolina and Georgia before the three parties reached an agreement that the facility would be developed by a new bi-state ports authority. 

"I am greatly encouraged with the signing of this agreement as the next step of the continuing cooperation and progress between Georgia and South Carolina toward the ultimate goal of building a Jasper Ocean Terminal, said David J Posek, Chairman of the Jasper Ocean Terminal Board of Directors. "It establishes the framework between our two states to work together over the next decade."

“A work plan for the 2016 fiscal year was adopted earlier this year by the JOT Board of Directors. The plan includes geotechnical studies and conceptual work on terminal design by Moffatt & Nichol, the Project Manager and the year is expected to culminate with a permit application to the US Army Corps of Engineers for the new terminal and channel modification study” the ports added.

The terminal could still be a decade or more away. Both the Georgia and South Carolina port authorities have previously expressed their view that JOT is a long-term project, to be developed when they have exhausted capacity at Savannah and Charleston.