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GEORGIA PORTS RECORDS BUSIEST FEBRUARY EVER
March 31, 2022
The Port of Savannah's container volume grew nearly 18% in February, extending year-over-year increases to 19 consecutive months for the Georgia Ports Authority and recording the gateway's busiest ever for the month.
To better accommodate that growth, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) Board announced that it has expedited more than US$538 million in capacity expansion projects initially anticipated years into the future.
"This growth plan is part of an overall strategy to enhance operations, accommodate increased demand, and deliver the world-class service and reliability that have become synonymous with GPA," said Griff Lynch, GPA executive director, noting that it will also allow the East Coast port to implement flexible solutions to meet the market demand.
Port of Savannah moved 460,413 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in February, an increase of 69,610 TEUs, or 17.8%.
"In light of the sustained increase in cargo volumes, Georgia Ports will make major investments in both Brunswick and Savannah. These expansion projects will increase the Port of Savannah's annual capacity from the current 6 million to 9.5 million TEUs by 2025," GPA added.
It noted that GPA will develop 85 additional acres, which will include vehicle processing facilities at the Port of Brunswick. The new pavement and buildings are slated to be complete in 2023, significantly increasing capacity.
Major capacity expansion at Port of Savannah
Meanwhile, Colonel's Island Terminal has another 355 acres permitted for development.
Additionally, the GPA board also gave the go to the Garden City Terminal West expansion, which Lynch designated a "permanent pop-up yard" – a reference to the six temporary yards GPA has established at inland markets.
GPA said the project adds 90 acres of container storage, a truck gate, and rubber-tired gantry cranes to serve the existing Garden City Terminal footprint.
The development will increase the Port of Savannah’s annual capacity by 1 million TEUs in phases through 2023 and 2024.
"With the completion of the Savannah Harbor deepening, we have the water depth to more easily accommodate big ships," said Lynch. "Our current projects will complement the harbor expansion by giving us the landside capacity we need to handle larger container volumes."
GPA will add a truck gate and access road to link Garden City Terminal to another 90-acre parcel just upriver.
The Authority is also building a trans-loading facility with a cross-docking warehouse there that is expected to be complete by April 2023 to address the demand for cross-dock services in Savannah, allowing customers to move cargo directly from the docks to destination markets or distribution centers.
The board also agreed to order seven new ship-to-shore cranes for the Port of Savannah. Along with a previous eight-crane order in November 2020, this will bring Savannah’s fleet to 42.
GPA noted that the expected cost of the projects approved on March 29 equates to 33% of the US$1.6 billion GPA spent on new infrastructure over the past 10 years.
