U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg

ATLANTA – The Port of Brunswick is receiving a $14.6 million grant to add a fourth roll-on/roll-off vessel berth at the Colonel’s Island Terminal, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Thursday.  

The project will address supply chain challenges at the nation’s second busiest Ro-Ro cargo port and more efficiently accommodate the larger 7,000-plus-unit vehicle carrier vessels that are becoming the industry standard for Ro-Ro ships calling at U.S. ports.

The grant to Brunswick is among a $241 million grant package for 25 port improvement projects in 19 states and one U.S. territory.

“U.S. maritime ports play a critical role in our supply chains,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Thursday. “These investments in our nation’s ports will help support American jobs, efficient and resilient operations and faster delivery of goods to the American people.”

The projects are aimed at meeting growing demand for goods brought on by the reopening of the U.S. economy following the pandemic lockdown. The Colonel’s Island Terminal has become No.-1 in the country for new auto imports.

Going forward, federal funding for the nation’s ports will come through the infrastructure bill Congress passed last month, which will provide $450 million annually for the next five fiscal years.

That’s roughly the same amount of federal funding provided to ports under DOT-administered grant programs since the agency began providing funding to ports in 2009. 

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.