12 May Port of Charleston and Strong Workforce Drove Volvo to Select Charleston
The deciding factors in Volvo’s decision to build its first North American manufacturing plant near tiny Ridgeville — population 2,000 or so — have by now become a familiar economic development tune: a nearby seaport that’s efficient and quality workforce training. It’s what convinced Daimler AG in March to build a campus in North Charleston (right next to Atlas Commerce Center) that will make the company’s popular Sprinter vans. On Monday, Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo’s American operations, said the Swedish automaker was lured to South Carolina by the same song.