777X would face logistical challenges in South Carolina
Sounds like good news for us. Of course Boeing is still trying to get concessions from the IMA.
As Boeing nears a decision on where to build the stretched version of the Everett-built 777, the plane maker could encounter some major logistical hurdles if it choses South Carolina.
A key problem would be getting the plane's Japanese-built fuselage sections to the floor of Boeing's factory in North Charleston, S.C. Compared to Everett, the North Charleston plant is farther from the docks and lacks a suitable rail connection.
These transportation uncertainties could be a factor in some airline customers pressuring Boeing to take the more conservative course of remaining in Everett, where it already assembles the 777. Boeing’s reputation for competence is severely eroded by the more-than-three years of delays with the 787 Dreamliner.
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The fuselage for the current 777 is assembled on site in Everett from sections brought from Japan weekly in oversized ocean containers. Some of the containers are so large that the BNSF Railway mainline used to be shut down for two hours each day because the cars were too wide to fit on the rail line with trains going the other way, said Port of Everett spokeswoman Lisa Lefeber. Since the port opened a dedicated terminal near the plant in 2008, the containers can be rolled directly to the Everett factory floor after being unloaded from barges by a 50-ton crane.
How exactly this would be accomplished in North Charleston is unclear. The Boeing site there is more than four miles from the container terminal on the Cooper River, and slightly farther to other river docks to the south.
While there is a rail line along the edge of the Boeing site, which could likely be connected to the rail lines servicing these marine terminals, it’s also likely that moving oversized 777 containers to the factory would require major traffic dislocations.
In addition, these fuselage containers would have to take a long and expensive ocean trip from Japan — through the Panama Canal and back up the East Coast — instead of the relatively direct voyage from Japan to Everett.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2013/11/04/logistical-challenges-face-boeing-if.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&page=all