Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) saw its busiest month ever in August
GPA said it handled 575,513 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) last month, an increase of 18.5% or 89,918 TEUs over the same month last year.
"The Port of Savannah's geographic and capacity advantages remain a driving force behind current and new customers deciding to move cargo through Georgia," said Griff Lynch, executive director, GPA. "Our central location, and service through the largest container terminal in the Western Hemisphere offer speed to market and unmatched room to grow."
Counting the July volume of 530,800 TEUs, the Port of Savannah's August performance made for the fastest period in which the port has cleared the 1 million-TEU mark in a fiscal year.
Lynch noted that the recent opening of the final stretch of Jimmy Deloach Parkway, linking Garden City Terminal with interstates 95 and 16 — as well as greater reliance on rail — allows for growth while easing the traffic burden in surrounding communities.
GPA said intermodal volumes, including operations at Garden City Terminal and the Appalachian Regional Port, totalled nearly 51,700 rail lifts in August, up by more than 4,000 lifts compared to the same month last year.
Joel Wooten, GPA chairman, said the investments that GPA made in its operating infrastructure have now been paying off in its ability to handle the sustained influx of business that began two years ago.
"Combined with a deeper harbour, our improved rail capabilities and expanded container yard space have allowed GPA to maintain fluid cargo management," Wooten added.
In November 2021, GPA commissioned the final nine of 18 working tracks on its Mason Mega Rail Terminal, increasing rail capacity by 30%. Served by Class I railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX, the 85-acre rail yard is the largest of its kind for a port terminal in North America.
Meanwhile, while the Port of Savannah continues to work through a vessel backlog, Lynch noted imports on the water are trending downward compared to July, when there were 265,000 containers destined for Savannah.
As of September 13, Lynch said the number is 223,460 boxes on the water.
He noted that the number of vessels at anchor will dwindle over the next six weeks, and a more permanent solution will come online in June 2023, when improvements to Container Berth 1 at Garden City Terminal are completed.
More infrastructure developments underway
GPA said work to realign the berth is now more than 60% complete and the improvement will provide space for another big ship berth, allowing the Port of Savannah to simultaneously serve four 16,000-TEU vessels, as well as three additional ships.
"This is a rare project for a US port," Wooten said. "By this time next year, an additional big ship berth in Savannah will have increased our ability to move containers on and off vessels by 1.4 million TEUs per year."
In a related project, GPA has ordered eight new ship-to-shore cranes, set to be commissioned in December 2023.
Additionally, work has begun on the Garden City Terminal West Expansion Phase II.
The project will add 90 acres of container storage space to be supported by 15 electric rubber-tired gantry cranes.
GPA said the project will add 1 million TEUs of annual container handling capacity, coming online in phases in 2023 and 2024.
