Cheap imports kill mills as wharf fare heats up.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER - China and Wilmington's imports.

During the past 10 years, Tar Heel textile makers have closed factories, laid off workers and moved a good portion of what production they have left offshore. The most-cited reason: a glut of cheap imports. But imports--combined with good timing on a channel-dredging project--have caused a boom for another segment of the state's economy.

Traffic at the state ports in Wilmington and Morehead City was up about 25% for the first nine months of the fiscal year that ends in June. Much of the increase has come since January, when China's admission to the World Trade Organization eliminated tariffs on its goods. Among the fastest-growing imports are textiles, furniture, apparel, electronic parts and bulk commodities such as metal and lumber. Most of the state's container traffic goes to the Wilmington port, while Morehead City gets mostly bulk cargo.

Wilmington has seen the greater increase. Imports of textiles and apparel were up about 70% from the previous year. Volume is being fed by overflow from rival ports such as Charleston, S.C., Norfolk, Va., Savannah, Ga., and New York.

Some of that cargo is coming from the West Coast via the Panama Canal. That's where timing comes in. The N.C. Ports Authority completed deepening the shipping channel to 42 feet in January 2004. Before then, many container ships couldn't have reached the docks.

Economists expect the effect to ripple out. "Of all the economic activities a...