Video: Haley, Scott, Graham Laud Inland Port

Gov. Nikki Haley was joined by Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Lindsey Graham in Greer on Friday to celebrate the groundbreaking at South Carolina's Inland Port. 

Haley said the inland port, which will utilize an existing overnight train service through Norfolk Southern, will spur widespread job creation. She confirmed that she had been in talks with companies interested in locating in the Palmetto State after hearing of the deveopment of the port. 

The port, centered on Poinsett Street in Greer, is located near BMW and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, and will service double-stack container trains to and from the Port of Charleston's seaport facilities. 

The port is expected to convert around 25,000 container movements from truck to rail in the first year of the operation. 

The port's groundbreaking represents a uniquely quick turnaround time from conception to reality. The project was first conceived a year ago and announced last July, and is a 10-year, $1.3 billion investment. 

Combined with the State of South Carolina’s commitments to port-related infrastructure investment, there is nearly $2 billion in planned projects to support the growth of the port.

This includes a new, 280-acre container terminal in the Port of Charleston, providing a significant capacity boost as international container traffic is expected to grow due to the expansion of the Panama Canal. The South Carolina Port Authority is also pursuing a next harbor deepening project, which has been fully funded by the State of South Carolina for $300 million and is slated for completion around 2019.