Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) noted the growing Indian trade in the gateway.

In a statement, it said that India represents "enormous opportunities" for Georgia's Ports — with overall trade growing faster than its trade with any other country among the top 20 over the past fiscal year.

GPA noted that "no other US port expanded India trade by more containers than the Port of Savannah," by a margin of 14,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units, according to PIERS-Enterprise loaded cargo data.

"Our growth trajectory with India is extremely strong, and we are actively taking steps to increase our presence in the market," said Griff Lynch, GPA president and CEO.

"As production shifts to India and as demand in its economy rises, that trade increasingly favours the Port of Savannah's strategic location over West Coast ports due to time and cost," he added.

Import-export volumes between Savannah and India totalled 279,149 TEUs last fiscal year, for an increase of 18% or 43,333 TEUs.

GPA noted that exports to India grew by 50% in FY23 vs FY22 and by nearly 80% in the past five years.

It added that overall, GPA trade with the South Asian nation grew by 18% in the past fiscal year and 61% over the past five years.

GPA said Savannah also handles "more India trade than any other US port except NY/NJ."

GPA imports from India over the past five years were up 52%. In FY23, imports constituted 63% of GPA's total India volumes, signalling well-balanced trade.

The statement said GPA has weekly container services with India's major ports of Nhava Sheva (India's commercial and financial hub – and largest port), Mundra and Pipavav.

India's global exports were one-tenth of China's in 2021 but now exceed all other emerging markets except Mexico's and Vietnam's, according to World Bank data.