Overview:

Charleston Charleston(Port of Charleston) is the largest city in the United States, South Carolina. This city is the county seat of Charleston County, and is in the main city of Charleston, the North Charleston-Somerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located to the south of the geographic midpoint of the South Carolina coastline. It is located in the port of Charleston, which is the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper and Vendor rivers.

Charleston has an estimated population of 137,566 in 2019. As of July 1, 2019, the Charleston metropolitan area including Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties has an estimated population of 802,122 residents, making it the third largest city in the state and the 74th largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States. .

Charleston Company was founded in Charles Town in 1670 to commemorate King Charles II of England. It was originally located at Albemarle Point (now Charles Towne Landing) on ​​the west bank of the Ashley River. It was abandoned by its current location in 1680 and became the fifth largest city in North America within ten years. Charles Town is one of the important cities in the British American colonies and played an important role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city’s size and wealth, and was governed by the slavery of plantation owners and slave traders .

Independent Charleston slave traders, such as Joseph Wage, broke through the monopoly of the Royal African Company and created the large-scale slave trade in the 18th century. Historians estimate that "almost half of the Africans brought to the United States arrived in Charleston", most of which were at the Gadsden Pier. Despite its size, it was not merged throughout the colonial period. Its government is directly managed by the colonial legislature and the governor sent by London, England. The electoral district is organized according to the Anglican diocese, and some social services are managed by the Anglican guards and concierges. Charleston was merged into a city at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, thus adopting the current spelling.

The population growth within South Carolina affected the state government's relocation to Columbia in 1788, but through the 1840 census, the port city was still one of the ten largest cities in the United States. Charleston was the only major pre-war city in the United States where the majority of the population was enslaved. It was controlled by oligarchs of white plantation owners and merchants who successfully forced the federal government to revise its 1828 and 1832 during the Zero Crisis. Tariffs in 1 year and started a civil war. 

In 1861, through the occupation of Arsenal, Pinckney Castle and Fort Sumter came from the Federal Garrison. After CNN stated that slavery "has enveloped the history of Charleston," the city formally apologized in 2018 for its role in the American slave trade. Charleston is known for its strong tourism industry and was named the best city in the world by Travel and Leisure magazine in 2016. In the past few decades, the magazine has permanently ranked Charleston as the best city in the United States.

Port of Charleston

The Port of Charleston is owned and operated by the South Carolina Ports Authority. It is one of the largest ports in the United States and ranked in the top 25 in terms of container freight volume in 2014. It consists of five piers and a sixth pier. The port was originally scheduled to open in 2018. Despite occasional labor disputes, the port is still ranked No. 1 in North America for customer satisfaction by its supply chain supervisor.

Port activities at the two piers in Charleston are one of the city’s main sources of income, second only to tourism.

Today, the Port of Charleston has the deepest waters in the Southeast and regularly handles ships that are too large to pass through the Panama Canal. A port deepening project is currently underway to increase the entrance channel of the Port of Charleston to 54 feet and the port channel to 52 feet during average low tide. At an average high tide of 6 feet, the depth gap will become 60 feet and 58 feet, respectively.

The Union Pier in Charleston is a cruise passenger terminal that receives many cruise ships every year. In May 2010, Carnival  Fantasy was permanently stationed in Charleston, offering weekly cruises to the Bahamas and Key West, eventually including Bermuda. In addition to the weekly carnival fantasy sailing, the joint terminal also hosted 67 embarkation ports and ports of call in 2010.

With the closure of the Naval Base and Charleston Naval Shipyard in 1996, Detyens, Inc. signed a long-term lease. Detyens Shipyard, Inc. owns 3 dry docks, 1 floating dock and 6 docks. It is one of the largest commercial offshore maintenance facilities on the East Coast. Projects include military, commercial and cruise ships.