(The Center Square) – Positive net change of $50.1 million by the North Carolina State Ports Authority is included in the audit for fiscal year 2024, says an analysis released by state Auditor Jessica Holmes’ office.
The report was positive, with no “material weaknesses” in the scope of the audit or any “instances of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be reported” under Government Auditing Standards.
The Ports Authority, overseen by an 11-member Board of Directors serving through appointment by the governor, President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives, has deep-water operations at Wilmington and Morehead City, and a terminal facility (rail) in Charlotte. Its financial state of net position – meaning assets, deferred outflows of resources, liabilities, and deferred inflows of resources – was a positive net change of $50.1 million for fiscal year 2024 ending June 30.
The audit said the increase “is principally a product of the recognition of $45 million in state capital appropriations and increased investment income and unrealized gains on the Authority’s invested accounts.”
The audit said investments in container operations, operation of intermodal service to and from Charlotte and the Midwest, and expansion of refrigeration services enabled existing services and new services to help the Port of Wilmington. There were increases in Wilmington and Morehead City because of infrastructure improvements, investments in agricultural transload facility, refrigerated cargo logistics and other warehouse equipment.
Container and general terminal volume was hurt, the audit said, by global disruptions linked to the Panama Canal drought and draft restrictions, and to the “ongoing Red Sea/Suez Canal disruptions.” Cargo routed for the East Coast instead went to the West Coast. The fiscal 2025 budget was prepared expecting resumption of normal volumes.
