business in cargo, corporate aviation 

 and military traffic. And three commer- 

 cial carriers — USAir, American and 

 Delta — serve the public. 



As for the future, the airport has 

 big ideas. Plans call for an adjacent 

 commercial and industrial park that will 

 include a hotel and convention center. 



On the south end of town, another 

 transportation link, the state port, is 

 beefing up its image and its facilities. 

 After several years of running in the 

 red, the State Port of Wilmington is 

 showing a profit. 



In competition with neighboring 

 ports in Virginia, South Carolina and 

 Georgia, the Wilmington port has 

 lagged because it was not linked to the 

 nation's interstate system, Hall says. 



But the completion of 1-40, the 

 introduction of intennediate transporta- 

 tion terminals in Charlotte and Greens- 

 boro, and a more aggressive marketing 

 campaign spell a brighter future for the 

 Wilmington port. 



Wood pulp and tobacco are the 

 most prevalent cargoes leaving 

 Wilmington; steel is the top imported 

 item. But cargoes run the gamut from 

 soybean oil to mobile homes. 



Almost 33,000 tons of military 

 equipment, shipped from Fort Bragg 

 and Camp Lejeune to the Persian Gulf, 

 passed through the North Carolina 

 ports. This meant weeks of round-the- 

 clock, seven-day-a-week operations in 



On June 30, 1990, 1-40 was 

 opened, completing the connection 

 between Raleigh and Wilmington. The 

 four-lane, limited-entry highway opened 

 the artery that connected Wilmington to 

 the rest of North Carolina and the 

 nation, and it began slowly to pump 

 economic adrenaline into the city 

 by the sea. 



Wilmington, says Karen Fox, the ports' 

 public affairs manager. 



Although the military movement 

 gave the ports a short-term boost, the 

 ports authority is looking to North 

 Carolina businesses to give it long-term 

 stability. 



North Carolina is among the top 10 

 states in the nation in manufactured 

 goods and the top in the Southeast. Yet 

 only 20 to 30 percent of ocean-bound 

 cargo leaving Tar Heel companies pas- 

 ses through our state ports, Fox says. 



The ports are striving to capaire a 

 larger percentage of Tar Heel business. 

 And if successful, the Port of Wilming- 

 ton could have a greater impact on the 

 city's future. 



But for now, a larger player in 

 Wilmington's economy is "UNC By The 

 Sea." 



The seaside university draws 

 7,000 students and is growing at a rate 

 of 6 percent a year, Hall says. 



Hall calculates that the university, 

 renowned for its marine science 

 curriculum, accounts for eight cents of 

 every dollar spent in an area that 

 encompasses New Hanover, Pender, 

 Columbus and Brunswick counties. 



"That's two and a half times the 

 impact the port has on the same 

 region," Hall says. 



In recent years, the university 

 elevated its academics to the same 

 level as East Carolina, Western Carolina 

 and Appalachian State universities. 

 "UNC By The Sea" now offers master's 

 degrees, and it's working with North 

 Carolina State University to offer a 

 Ph.D. in marine science. 



Once seen as a regional university, 

 UNC-Wilmington drew its students 

 from southeastern North Carolina. Now 

 its academic reputation attracts students 

 from across the state and the nation, 

 and the completion of 1-40 makes 

 access to the campus even easier. 



University buildings and other 

 major Wilmington landmarks have 

 been a part of another major player in 

 Wilmington's economy — the movie 

 industry. 



Filmmaker Dino DeLaurentis 

 opened shop in the Cape Fear city in 

 the early 1980s. At the height of 

 production, his DEG Studios were 

 working on four films simultaneously 

 and pumping SI million a week into 

 the local economy, Augustine says. 



