Thinking about 2058.(merger of Georgia ports and South Carolina ports )

BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY

If you were given a blank sheet and told to design the most efficient South Atlantic port system possible, would you specify separate port authorities for the adjacent states of Georgia and South Carolina? Probably not, which is why a recent suggestion by Bill Stern, chairman of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, is so intriguing. Stern floated the once unimaginable idea of merging the two states' port authorities. He said a regional approach to port development would benefit both states' economies.

It won't happen any time soon. Both states' governors quickly rejected the proposal, insisting that Georgia and South Carolina each gain more through competition than they would through a port merger.

But Stern has raised a serious point that deserves serious discussion. One who's been thinking about it is Ron Brinson, a former New Orleans port director and American Association of Port Authorities president. Now retired in his hometown of Charleston, Brinson still keeps an eye on the industry where he spent most of his career. He doesn't know Stern, but believes his suggestion has merit.

"It was an expression of fresh thinking in an industry too often gripped by ponderous notions that port authorities are intractable business and governance models and must always avoid any cutting-edge creativity," Brinson wrote in an op-ed column published Dec. 10 in the Charleston Post & Courier, which also reported Stern's proposal.

Stern's idea isn't completely new - the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has existed since 1921. And Georgia and South Carolina may not even be the most logical candidates for port mergers. Other potential port pairings could include Miami and Port Everglades, Seattle and Tacoma, and Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Georgia and South Carolina al-ready have taken a step toward port cooperation, with a bi-state initiative to oversee private development of a terminal on land Georgia owns in Jasper County, S.C., 12 miles downstream from the Port of Savannah. But that agreement is separate from the states' port authorities, which remain separate and competitive.