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The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

Mar. 9--Bridge Terminal Transport Inc., a Charlotte trucking company and the nation's largest container hauler, plans to hire 30 truck owner-operators for its new Wilmington port office, port officials said Tuesday.

Bridge Terminal Transport is the trucking company for home shopping network QVC Inc.'s 1.2 million-square-foot Rocky Mount distribution center. The company expects 15 to 20 containers will pass through the Wilmington docks bound for Rocky Mount each week once its new office is fully operational this summer.

In the long term, its new office will bring in "a great deal of money and business for the port," said Susan Clizbe, communications manager for the N.C. State Ports Authority.

Over the past year, moves of containers in and out of the Wilmington port rose by 92 percent to 7,826 in February, the ports authority said. This follows the deepening of the Wilmington Harbor, which expanded the port's navigation channel to 42 feet from 38 feet -- a move the port expects to double its business over the next five years.

"Our container business is literally exploding because of trade around the world," said Clizbe. She is projecting double-digit growth for the sector this year.

Last month, the port added its second weekly container shipping service, a joint venture between Zim Integrated Shipping Services, owner of the Zim Adriatic, and Lloyd Triestino di Navigazione, owner of the LT Greet.

Bridge Terminal Transport employs 325 people across 37 terminals and 29 container yards in 24 states and Canada, including 60 workers in Charlotte.

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