ATLANTA – The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has begun the new fiscal year with no letup in momentum.
The Port of Savannah handled 530,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containerized cargo last month, an increase of 18% over last July, marking the fastest start of a fiscal year ever.
For calendar year 2022, Savannah is on track to move more than 6 million TEUs, up from last year’s record of 5.6 million TEUs.
“The Port of Savannah has clearly become a preferred East Coast gateway for shippers globally, including cargo diverted from the U.S. West Coast,” GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said Monday.
To accommodate the growth in cargo traffic, the GPA is opening for business two hours earlier, with gates now open from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Savannah’s container operation is expanding, with eight new ship-to-shore cranes on order.
The GPA also is building another big-ship berth at Savannah’s Garden City terminal that will add 1.4 million TEUs of capacity, while the Garden City Terminal West project will add space for another 1 million TEUs.
“While the global logistics network has been challenged over the past two years, our message to customers is that at GPA, we’re continuing to build and expand,” GPA board Chairman Joel Wooten said.
“We’re moving forward with an aggressive plan to enhance our terminal operations and improve the rail connectivity to major commercial and manufacturing centers.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.