Trucking companies in South Carolina: port drayage, Upstate freight and how to vet a carrier

This report is for importers, manufacturers and 3PLs looking for a South Carolina carrier, drivers comparing employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are trucking companies: chassis and trailer services, insurers, fuel and software vendors.

South Carolina's trucking market

County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 484 (Truck Transportation), for South Carolina.

The port effect

SC Ports runs the Charleston container terminals and two inland ports linked to them by rail: Inland Port Greer in the Upstate and Inland Port Dillon. Its calendar-year figures through September 2026:

For context, SC Ports handled 2,565,297 TEUs in all of 2025, up from 2,497,143 in 2024. SC Ports also publishes a list of 32 Charleston drayage providers, among them Averitt Express, ContainerPort Group, NFI Industries, RoadOne and Universal Intermodal, which is the quickest public starting point for port moves.

Upstate, Midlands and Lowcountry

The Upstate pair holds 448 establishments and 6,376 jobs, and the three Lowcountry counties 403 and 3,785. Lexington County is home to Southeastern Freight Lines, which helps explain its 15.8 employees per establishment against Richland's 7.4.

Fleet sizes

The Census Bureau withholds the top two classes. In broader bands, 1,890 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 229 have 20 to 99 and 39 have 100 or more (the total less the smaller bands).

Four counts that don't agree

The Census count leaves out owner-operators without employees and private fleets; the FMCSA file includes both, and carriers fill in its fleet and cargo fields themselves. Of the 23,336 registrations, 56.0% are intrastate only, 71.2% declare for-hire work and 61.3% of those reporting trucks report one.

Largest for-hire fleets in the register

For-hire freight carriers with a South Carolina address, a 2024 or later MCS-150 update and a driver count consistent with the fleet.

After Southeastern, the largest fleets run 200 to 400 trucks. The largest private fleet is Sunbelt Rentals in Fort Mill (6,234 power units). No SEC-listed trucking company is headquartered in South Carolina.

South Carolina rules

South Carolina regulates few intrastate carriers. Under S.C. Code section 58-23-40, a carrier needs a certificate before it transports persons, hazardous waste for disposal or household goods for compensation; section 58-23-25 says the Public Service Commission has no authority over the rates, routes or services of other property carriers, private carriers included. Section 58-23-920 still requires carriers of goods for hire to carry liability and property damage insurance. Interstate carriers need a USDOT number in SAFER, operating authority checked in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance search, and at least $750,000 of liability cover for general freight (49 CFR 387.9).

Before you book a port carrier, ask for its SCAC and interchange agreement, how it handles chassis, and its average turn time at Wando Welch; then check two importer references.

Selling to South Carolina carriers

Illustrative example. The shop and its rates are invented; the counts are from the FMCSA file and SC Ports data.

Lowcountry Chassis Care (lcchassis.example) repairs container chassis and does roadability inspections at the customer's yard. In the register, 599 carriers in Dorchester (203), Charleston (201) and Berkeley (195) counties list intermodal containers. Cargo types are self-reported by carriers, and FMCSA's open-data file doesn't always match a carrier's own SAFER record, so treat these counts as indicative. With port volumes down, these fleets are hauling fewer boxes and can't afford a chassis out of service. Contacting the owner or dispatcher at each, at a 6% reply rate, gives about 36 conversations; if a quarter book an inspection day, 9 yards. The opener names the volume change, which every drayage owner has felt. Bebop can turn that description into a researched list of drayage fleets. For reaching the right person, see how to find decision makers.

Subject: Chassis down at [company]'s yard

Hi [first name],

With container volumes off this year, I'd guess every load counts more at [company], and a chassis that fails roadability costs you a move.

We inspect and repair chassis at your yard in [area], so nothing sits waiting on a shop.

Could we do a free inspection day on [day]? It takes about four hours for a yard your size.

[Your name]

South Carolina sources

Next step: compare Charleston's port carriers with Houston's in the report on trucking companies in Houston.