By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTThe Port of Charleston is already seeing an up tick in break bulk business. But when Boeing move forward with assembling its 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, this will result in even bigger volumes going through South Carolina’s major seaport. The Port already got a big boost for container traffic when TBC Corp., one of the largest marketers of automotive replacement tires, moved into 1.1 million square feet of distribution space in Summerville, SC, this March. Since the company began operating in the DC, some 30,000 to 40,000 tires have been rolling through the distribution center (DC) located in a foreign trade zone in Berkeley County. TBC expects to bring thousands for containers through the port annually. The company receives shipments from both international and domestic suppliers. Holding back Boeing right now is a union-busting lawsuit targeting Boeing Co. and its new South Carolina aircraft plant that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. With so much at stake for the aircraft manufacturer and its back orders of 787 Dreamliners, word is that although the dispute between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board is shaping up to be one of the biggest union fights in recent years with right-to-work state South Carolina, this dispute will not affect the Summer 2011 opening of the $750 million assembly line. The complaint seeks a court order forcing Boeing to establish the second 787 line in Everett, WA, the unionized home of the company’s commercial airplane business. The new plant in Charleston, added to the one Boeing just bought that makes sections of the Dreamliner’s fuselage, will give Boeing its first assembly center outside of Seattle. North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics, Inc., headquartered in New Bern, was cited in January as landing the contract to provide logistics support to Boeing at its North Charleston 787 Dreamliner assembly plant. Under this contact, New Breed will receive, store, provide inventory control, kit, package, distribute, and transport 787 parts, tools, and supplies to designated locations within Boeing’s North Charleston assembly facility. “We are focused every day on providing superior solutions and excellent execution for Boeing,” says Louis DeJoy, New Breed CEO and chairman. Business Under the Radar Screen Boeing, and—for that matter, TBC Corp., are not the only big stories for the Port of Charleston. Although port officials are reluctant to discuss any customer details, a great deal of other traffic continues to develop under the radar screen that offers good business at the seaport for both containerized and break bulk business. A good case study demonstrating this point is Cyril Bath Company located in Monroe, NC. Cyril Bath, along with its sister company, ACB France, operates as a leading manufacturer of specialty metal forming presses and contract manufacturer of precision contour parts for the aviation/aerospace industry. Currently, the company, along with ACB located in Nante, France, holds a 90 percent world market share in this very specific line of business. Its sister entity in France manufactures machines for the European market, particularly Airbus. Depending on who gets the business (Cyril Bath and ACB), is largely dictated by which currency – U.S. Dollars or Euros—an aerospace company wants to do business. “This can seesaw, depending on the currency rate,” remarks Michael F. Zimmer, president and CEO of Cyril Bath in at the Monroe headquarters during an interview with this AJOT reporter in early May. “Over the last four or five years it’s been an advantage to buy in U.S. Dollars.” Cyril Bath’s business entails two parts. The first involves its traditional business of manufacturing of heavy and large-scale equipment used to stretch and form metal. The process uses a controlled force to create precise signal or multiple complex curves. Its second business, which is fairly new, entails a new process whereby Cyril Bath will be su