Emails between SC Ports leadership provide insight into May’s temporary port shutdown

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — It’s been almost two months since the South Carolina Ports dealt with technical issues that ultimately led to a temporary shutdown of the ports.

The problems led to a traffic nightmare and even stranded truck drivers on the side of the road.

News 2 obtained hundreds of emails between South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) leadership regarding the temporary shutdown through a Freedom of Information Act (FIOA) request. While attorneys for SCPA say some information may have been redacted or exempt from the request, the communications are providing more insight into how the situation unfolded.

The South Carolina Ports Authority first notified the public about the issues around 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. They put out a notice that the ports would delay opening until 10 a.m. on Monday, May 20 due to software issues that impacted a server.

However, according to the emails between port officials, the problems began earlier than that. On Saturday, May 18, a port employee emailed around 6:00 a.m. notifying staff about technical problems they were experiencing.

“Please be advised traffic may be exceeded/nearing the NCT/WWT inbound ports. System is completely down,” the email said.

However, a few minutes later, the employee sent another email saying the situation was resolved.

Around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, the Operations Coordinator sent an email to the Ports Systems and Services Support team. “Could you check the internet service? We seem to be having issues,” they wrote. A few hours later, he emailed other staff members notifying them the issues seemed to be on the ports’ end.

The problems persisted as several employees asked for updates about the situation. At 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, the discussion began about delaying Monday’s gate opening.

“Should we be considering a delayed opening for gate operations for tomorrow? If we can’t process containers at 5 a.m., we will have a traffic nightmare,” a general manager wrote.

The SCPA IT Support also sent a message to staff about the problems Monday morning, and leaders notified the governor’s office about the delayed opening.

Several updates were sent to the public on Monday continuing to push back the opening of the ports as they worked to resolve the issues. Monday afternoon, port leaders said operations would resume Tuesday at 5 a.m.

On Tuesday around 3 a.m., another manager sent an email to staff members giving an update. “SCPA continues to address system storage issues,” they wrote. “SCPA will have a solution shortly.”

However, a full opening on Tuesday was delayed a few more times. At 2:42 p.m., a final update was sent.

“SC Ports operations are online and gates are now open,” it said. “We appreciate the support of our maritime community and the patience of partners as we work through the restart of operations.”

A few emails were sent after the reopening noting a few lingering problems, but trucks were going in and out of the gates that afternoon.

SCPA reiterated in its updates that it was not a cyber security issue, and maintained that it was caused by a software issue that impacted a port server.

News 2 did reach out to SCPA for any additional information that could be provided but have not heard back.