The Navy Base Intermodal Facility is a 118-acre near-port rail yard under construction at the former Charleston Naval Complex in North Charleston, South Carolina, designed to move shipping containers directly between ocean vessels, trucks, and Class I railroads without unpacking them. When finished, it will handle up to one million rail lifts per year, placing it among the highest-capacity intermodal transfer points on the U.S. East Coast.1SC Ports Authority. Navy Base Intermodal Facility Palmetto Railways, a division of the South Carolina Department of Commerce, is building and will operate the yard; road realignments and bridge work were still in progress at the north end of the site as of late 2025.2SC Ports Authority. NBIF Updates
Where It Sits and What Connects to It
The yard is on the west bank of the Cooper River, about six miles north of the confluence with the Ashley, putting it centrally among the container terminals run by the South Carolina Ports Authority (SC Ports).3Federal Railroad Administration. Palmetto Railways Navy Base Intermodal Facility A dedicated one-mile private drayage road links it to the Hugh K. Leatherman, Sr. Terminal, the Port of Charleston’s newest container terminal, which opened its first phase in 2021 with 700,000 TEUs of annual throughput capacity.4SC Ports Authority. Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal Trucks shuttle containers between the marine terminal and the rail yard on that private road, keeping the traffic off public streets in surrounding neighborhoods.
How Containers Move Through the Yard
Intermodal transport means cargo travels in a standardized ISO container across two or more modes without being opened. At this facility the typical import sequence runs like this: a container ship berths at the Leatherman Terminal, a ship-to-shore crane lifts the box onto a truck chassis, the truck drays it one mile up the private road, and a gantry crane at the rail yard sets it onto a railcar. Exports run the sequence in reverse. The container stays sealed from origin to destination, which cuts handling time, lowers damage risk, and simplifies customs tracking.
Inside the fence, the yard holds 35,000 feet of processing tracks for sorting and staging railcars, separate arrival and departure tracks, stacking areas, administrative buildings, and driving lanes. Six electric wide-span rail-mounted gantry cranes handle the transfers between railcars and stacks.1SC Ports Authority. Navy Base Intermodal Facility Roughly 15 track-miles of new rail at the southern end tie the yard into the existing Class I network.3Federal Railroad Administration. Palmetto Railways Navy Base Intermodal Facility
Rail Reach Inland
The Port of Charleston has daily express intermodal and merchandise rail service through both CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway, the two Class I carriers running double-stack-capable yards in the Charleston area.5SC Ports Authority. Rail Connections Dual-carrier access gives shippers competitive pricing and routing choices for cargo bound for Atlanta, Charlotte, and points into the Midwest. The yard also connects by rail to SC Ports’ Inland Port facilities at Greer and Dillon, satellite rail yards in the Upstate and Pee Dee regions that shorten the drayage radius for customers inland.1SC Ports Authority. Navy Base Intermodal Facility
Who Can Enter the Facility
Every SC Ports terminal operates under a facility security plan required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act. Federal law requires the facility owner to control access to designated secure areas, including access by anyone moving intermodal containers in and out.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 70103 – Maritime Transportation Security
If you need unescorted access, you must hold a valid Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). The TWIC is a biometric card issued by the federal government after a security threat assessment, including a fingerprint-based criminal history check and an intelligence-related review.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 USC 70105 – Transportation Security Cards TSA processes applications and makes eligibility determinations, and can disqualify applicants for certain criminal convictions, immigration status issues, or adjudicated mental incapacity.8eCFR. 49 CFR Part 1572 – Credentialing and Security Threat Assessments Without a TWIC you can only enter a secure area accompanied side-by-side by a TWIC-holding escort, arranged in advance and at the ratios federal regulations require.9SC Ports Authority. Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)
Registering a Truck and Getting a Gate Code
Trucking companies that want to pick up or deliver at SC Ports facilities have to register with the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement (UIIA). Registration requires a valid Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC) from the National Motor Freight Traffic Association.10Intermodal Association of North America. Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement – Motor Carrier Quick Reference Guide
After UIIA, the carrier enrolls in SC Ports’ Go!Port system and submits its SCAC certificate. Go!Port is the web platform where the company generates a pre-advised gate code for each container move. Every truck mission needs its own code, whether the driver is picking up a loaded import, dropping an export, or swapping an empty container and chassis. The driver enters that code at the terminal gate lane to complete the transaction.11SC Ports Authority. Motor Carrier Guide No valid code, no entry. Everyone on site also has to follow the facility’s safety rules, including high-visibility vests and required vehicle decals.
Free Time and Demurrage
Containers that sit past the allowed free time build up daily demurrage charges. The current free time and fee tiers at Charleston terminals are:
- Import loaded containers (non-reefer): seven calendar days of free time. Demurrage then runs $25 per TEU per day for the first three days, $30 for days four through seven, $40 for days eight through twenty-three, and $60 per day from day twenty-four onward.
- Export loaded containers (non-reefer): ten calendar days of free time. Demurrage is $30 per TEU per day for the first twenty days past free time, then $60 per day.
- Refrigerated containers: five calendar days of free time. Reefer demurrage is $85 per container per day for the first two days, then $115 per day.
Containers longer than 20 feet count as two TEUs for billing.12SC Ports Authority. Charleston Tariff The tiers escalate on purpose. The terminal is not a warehouse, and the math turns against shippers who use it as one.
Hazardous Materials Rules and Penalties
Hazardous materials moving by rail through an intermodal facility have to comply with federal shipping paper, marking, and labeling requirements under 49 CFR Part 172. Every hazmat shipment needs documentation identifying the material, its hazard class, and its UN identification number. Containers must carry the correct labels and placards, and tank cars require specific identification number markings.13eCFR. 49 CFR Part 172 – Hazardous Materials Table, Special Provisions, Hazardous Materials Communications, Emergency Response Information, Training Requirements, and Security Plans
Federal law sets a civil penalty of up to $75,000 per violation for anyone who knowingly violates hazardous materials transportation requirements. If the violation causes a death, serious illness, severe injury, or substantial property destruction, the ceiling rises to $175,000 per violation. Training-related violations carry a minimum penalty of $450.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 5123 – Penalties Those are statutory figures; inflation adjustments can push the actual amounts higher.
Clean Truck Engine Rule
SC Ports runs a Clean Truck Certification Program that sets a minimum engine age for drayage trucks at its container terminals. Trucks must have post-1993 engines to enter the facility.15SC Ports Authority. Clean Truck Certification Program That floor keeps the oldest, highest-polluting diesel engines out of routine port operations. Verify current requirements before dispatching equipment, since emission standards at major ports have tightened over time.
Military Cargo Role
The Port of Charleston is designated a Commercial Strategic Seaport under the National Port Readiness Network, and federal agencies maintain a standing Port Readiness Committee there to coordinate operations during both peacetime and national defense emergencies.16Maritime Administration. National Port Readiness Network The Army’s 841st Transportation Battalion, headquartered at Joint Base Charleston, runs surface deployment and water terminal operations for the region; roughly six percent of all surface cargo moving worldwide passed through JB Charleston in a recent fiscal year.17Joint Base Charleston. Supporting the Warfighter – 841st Transportation Battalion’s Unique Mission Rapid ship-to-rail transfer of containerized military supplies and heavy equipment is part of what the yard is built to support alongside commercial cargo.