Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (Port of Charleston): Tracking, FIRMS Code, and 2026 Status

Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal is the South Carolina Ports Authority's newest container facility at 1500 Port Access Road, North Charleston, SC 29405, opened in Phase 1 in 2021 with 700,000 TEU annual capacity, five ship to shore cranes, and a 1,400 foot berth on the Cooper River side of Charleston Harbor. For freight forwarders and NVOCCs routing containers through the Port of Charleston, Leatherman is the newest of the three SC Ports container facilities and, as of publish, the one you route around rather than through: SC Ports paused Leatherman operations on 1 August 2026 and consolidated container work at Wando Welch Terminal and North Charleston Terminal. This glossary page publishes the current operational status up top so a forwarder booking a Charleston lane today can act on the fact, and then covers Leatherman as a facility (address, FIRMS, cranes, capacity, planned build-out, tracking systems) so the reference is complete when SC Ports reopens the terminal.

New to the terminology first? See Terminal Handling Charges (THC) Explained for the fee vocabulary that shows up on every Charleston invoice, whether the box moves through Wando Welch, North Charleston Terminal, or Leatherman.

What Is Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal

Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal, commonly shortened to "Leatherman Terminal," is the third and newest container terminal in the South Carolina Ports Authority's Charleston system. It sits on the west bank of the Cooper River in North Charleston, built on part of the former Charleston Naval Complex site and named for the late South Carolina State Senator Hugh K. Leatherman. Phase 1 opened in 2021 and cost roughly $1.2 billion. The terminal is designed as the SC Ports growth capacity terminal: a Phase 1 berth immediately available on opening, and a three-berth full build-out engineered to add 2.4 million TEU of annual throughput to the US East Coast port network when Charleston cargo demand supports it.

The distinguishing operational fact for a forwarder today is not the master plan. It is the pause. As demand at Charleston softened through 2025 and into 2026, SC Ports announced on 25 June 2026 that Leatherman would be paused from 1 August 2026 and that container work would consolidate at Wando Welch Terminal (the primary SC Ports container terminal) and North Charleston Terminal. Just under 6 percent of SC Ports container volume flowed through Leatherman in the period before the pause, with an average of about five vessel calls per week from MSC. Under the pause, Charleston-bound MSC boxes and other Leatherman cargo route to Wando Welch or North Charleston Terminal instead; the Leatherman berth and cranes are maintained but not worked. SC Ports has stated the terminal will reopen when Charleston demand supports operating all three container terminals, but has not published a reopening date.

Terminal Address, Operator, and FIRMS Code

The published SC Ports facility address, operator, and terminal codes are below. The FIRMS code and BIC facility code are the two identifiers that show up on ISF filings, carrier releases, and terminal invoices for a Leatherman container.

For forwarders that run Charleston as a regular lane, the terminal identifier and the operational status both belong on the same view as the booking, not spread across carrier portals and email threads. That is what purpose built Ocean Freight Management Software is for.

Phase 1 Facility Overview

Leatherman's Phase 1 profile is the single berth actually working before the pause. The rest of the master plan is engineered on paper but not yet built. The table below is the Phase 1 fact set a forwarder actually needs when briefing a shipper or filing at LCT9.

Sources: SC Ports Authority facility page for Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal, cross-confirmed against the SC Ports 2021 opening press release. Where SC Ports has not published a Phase 1 figure (Leatherman berth water depth, on dock rail spread), the row says so rather than carrying an estimate.

Gate Hours and Appointment System

Under the operational pause from 1 August 2026, Leatherman is not publishing a working gate schedule. Charleston container work is running at Wando Welch Terminal and North Charleston Terminal. For a forwarder booking a Charleston move today, the gate hours that matter are the Wando Welch Terminal gate hours (SC Ports' primary container facility), not the Leatherman gate hours. When SC Ports reopens Leatherman, the terminal is expected to return to a standard SC Ports weekday gate posture with peak-season extended hours, but the exact reopening schedule will be posted on the SC Ports site.

Appointment system. SC Ports operates a truck appointment and reservation system across its container terminals so motor carriers can pre-book slots rather than queue on arrival. During the Leatherman pause, appointments are booked against Wando Welch Terminal (or North Charleston Terminal for chassis-and-empty flows) through the SC Ports trucker portal. Motor carriers should confirm the current portal URL and appointment product name with SC Ports before publishing internal SOP docs, because a Leatherman-specific appointment product name (eModal, Advent, Tideworks, or a proprietary SC Ports build) is not independently verified in the current research pass.

Carriers Served (Before the Pause)

Leatherman's pre-pause carrier profile is thin compared with Wando Welch. Post and Courier reported that just under 6 percent of SC Ports container volume flowed through Leatherman before the pause, with an average of about five port calls per week from Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Industry terminal directories (Melrose, Terminal49) also map COSCO carrier-level tracking to LCT9. Other Leatherman calls before the pause are widely reported per industry sources but not independently accessible in the current research pass; when SC Ports reopens the terminal, the pre-pause carrier profile may not fully return, because MSC ended a shared vessel-sharing agreement with major partners in early 2025 and now runs its US East Coast strings under a different service arrangement.

Practical implication for a forwarder: during the pause, an MSC Charleston booking is worked at Wando Welch Terminal, not at Leatherman. FIRMS S770 (Wando Welch) replaces LCT9 (Leatherman) on the entry and release. Any documentation, driver instructions, or forwarder platform automations that hard-coded LCT9 for MSC Charleston moves need updating for the pause period.

Terminal Capacity and Expansion Plans

The most useful frame for Leatherman capacity is Phase 1 versus full build-out. Phase 1 is what SC Ports actually built and operated from 2021 through the pause: one berth, 1,400 feet, five ship to shore cranes, and 700,000 TEU annual capacity. Full build-out, engineered on the same 286 acre site, adds two more berths and roughly 1.7 million TEU of incremental capacity for a total of 2.4 million TEU annual throughput when Charleston cargo demand supports it.

The pause does not change the master plan. SC Ports has stated the pause is temporary and the terminal will remain maintained during the pause. The Charleston market question is when volumes recover enough to justify operating three container terminals concurrently. Until then, Wando Welch remains the primary SC Ports container terminal, North Charleston Terminal handles the smaller-vessel and empty-and-chassis flows, and Leatherman waits.

How to Track Containers at Leatherman During the Pause

During the pause, a "Leatherman container" is really a Charleston container moving through Wando Welch Terminal or North Charleston Terminal. Container status is available through three overlapping systems, and the practical answer is to track against the terminal where the box is actually working, not against the Leatherman page.

1. SC Ports terminal tracking (Wando Welch and North Charleston Terminal). The SC Ports container tracking portal accepts container number, bill of lading, or booking reference and returns current terminal status for the SC Ports terminal actually handling the box under the consolidation. During the pause, this is Wando Welch Terminal (FIRMS S770) or North Charleston Terminal (FIRMS S786), not Leatherman (LCT9).
2. Ocean carrier portals. MSC and other carriers publishing vessel and container status against the Charleston call route milestones through their own portals or APIs. Under the pause, the carrier still names Charleston as the port call but the terminal side of the milestone (discharge, gate out, available for pickup) resolves against Wando Welch or North Charleston Terminal.
3. Forwarder platform integration. Purpose built Shipment Tracking & Operations Software for Forwarders pulls the SC Ports terminal feed, the carrier feed, and AIS vessel data into one live view so the ops team sees the correct Charleston terminal against every open Charleston booking. The alternative (a hard-coded LCT9 lookup that stopped returning a live status on 1 August 2026) is exactly the exception surface that shows up on a Monday morning ops standup a week too late.

During the Pause: Where Charleston Cargo Is Actually Moving

SC Ports has been explicit on the consolidation destinations. Container cargo that would have moved through Leatherman under normal operations is being handled at Wando Welch Terminal and North Charleston Terminal. The practical differences for a forwarder:

• Wando Welch Terminal (FIRMS S770). SC Ports' primary container terminal on the west bank of the Wando River in Mount Pleasant, roughly 15 miles east of Leatherman by road. Wando Welch handles the majority of SC Ports container volume in ordinary operations and is absorbing most of the Leatherman consolidation.
• North Charleston Terminal (FIRMS S786). SC Ports' older Charleston container facility on the west bank of the Cooper River, adjacent to Leatherman on the same peninsula. North Charleston Terminal takes the smaller-vessel and empty-chassis flows during the consolidation.

For a booking previously worked at LCT9, the release, the gate transaction, and the drayage move now happen at S770 or S786, and the FIRMS code on the entry and on the release matches the terminal where the container is physically discharged. Free time and demurrage clocks at the receiving terminal follow that terminal's tariff, not Leatherman's; see Demurrage: What It Means and How Charges Work in Shipping for the free time and demurrage mechanics that carry the same meaning at Wando Welch and North Charleston Terminal.

Leatherman vs Wando Welch: Charleston Terminal Comparison

Both terminals are operated by SC Ports, and forwarders new to Charleston sometimes conflate the two. Wando Welch is the SC Ports primary container terminal (older, larger throughput today). Leatherman is the newer, purpose built container terminal engineered to add capacity as Charleston demand grows. The practical differences below matter when a carrier consolidates a service between the two facilities, exactly as MSC did on 1 August 2026.

How Forwarders Streamline Charleston Drayage

Charleston drayage is unusual among US East Coast ports today because the terminal a driver reports to has changed inside the last quarter, and the routing decision is a live one for every open Charleston booking. Three practical checks separate a forwarder that runs the consolidation cleanly from one that runs it as a series of exceptions:

• FIRMS code on the entry matches the terminal actually working the box. For MSC Charleston bookings under the pause, that is S770 (Wando Welch) or S786 (North Charleston Terminal), not LCT9. An entry filed against LCT9 for a discharged Wando Welch container is a preventable release delay.
• Motor carrier registration and TWIC status covers the receiving terminal. SC Ports operates a single trucker access program across its Charleston container terminals, so a motor carrier registered for Leatherman is registered for Wando Welch. Confirm the appointment posture at the receiving terminal well before the free time clock starts.
• Free time and demurrage clocks are pulled from the receiving terminal, not carried over from Leatherman. Terminal handling charges, free time, and per diem apply under the tariff of the terminal that physically holds the container. Any forwarder platform automation that mapped LCT9 to a Leatherman-specific tariff table needs re-pointing to the Wando Welch or North Charleston Terminal tariff for the duration of the pause.

Forwarders that already run Wando Welch as a routine Charleston lane absorb the consolidation with a routing change. Forwarders that ran Leatherman as a standalone lane, or that treated LCT9 as the default Charleston FIRMS, need to update SOP docs, ISF templates, driver instructions, and internal automations before the next Charleston vessel arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal located?

Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal is located at 1500 Port Access Road, North Charleston, SC 29405, on the west bank of the Cooper River at the former Charleston Naval Complex site. It is operated by the South Carolina Ports Authority (SC Ports) and is the newest of the three SC Ports container terminals. Source: SC Ports Authority facility page at https://scspa.com/facilities/hugh-k-leatherman-terminal/.

What is the FIRMS code for Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal?

The FIRMS code for Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal is LCT9. Forwarders filing ISF, entry, and in bond moves for Leatherman containers use LCT9 as the destination or unlading facility code. The BIC facility code is USCHSHLT and the SMDG code is HLT. Under the current operational pause (from 1 August 2026), Charleston cargo is consolidated at Wando Welch Terminal (FIRMS S770) or North Charleston Terminal (FIRMS S786), so the FIRMS code on the entry should match the terminal actually working the box.

Is Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal open?

No. SC Ports Authority paused Leatherman Terminal operations effective 1 August 2026 (announced 25 June 2026) and consolidated container cargo at Wando Welch Terminal and North Charleston Terminal. The pause is described by SC Ports as temporary; the terminal will remain maintained during the pause. No reopening date has been published. Sources: SC Ports Authority news release "SC Ports consolidating container operations in the short-term" and Post and Courier reporting.

Which carriers called Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal before the pause?

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) ran approximately five port calls per week at Leatherman, accounting for just under 6 percent of SC Ports container volume, per Post and Courier reporting. Industry terminal directories also map COSCO carrier-level tracking to Leatherman. Other pre-pause carrier calls are reported by industry sources but are not confirmed in SC Ports publications. During the pause, Charleston calls that would have worked at Leatherman are consolidated at Wando Welch Terminal or North Charleston Terminal.

How do I track a container that was routed through Leatherman?

During the pause, container tracking is against the SC Ports terminal actually working the box (Wando Welch Terminal or North Charleston Terminal), not against Leatherman. Use the container number, bill of lading, or booking reference on the SC Ports container tracking portal for the receiving terminal, on the ocean carrier's portal, or on a forwarder platform that federates SC Ports terminal data, carrier data, and AIS vessel data into one live view. A tracking call hard-coded to LCT9 does not return a live status while the pause is in effect.

What is the difference between Leatherman Terminal and Wando Welch Terminal?

Both terminals are operated by SC Ports Authority. Wando Welch Terminal (FIRMS S770, opened 1981, three berths, approximately 2.4 million TEU annual capacity) is the SC Ports primary container terminal on the west bank of the Wando River in Mount Pleasant. Leatherman Terminal (FIRMS LCT9, opened Phase 1 in 2021, one berth, 700,000 TEU Phase 1 capacity, 2.4 million TEU planned full build-out) is the newer growth-capacity terminal on the west bank of the Cooper River in North Charleston. From 1 August 2026, Leatherman is on an operational pause and Wando Welch is absorbing the majority of the consolidation.

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