ATLANTA – The Port of Savannah set a monthly record in March for containerized cargo traffic for the second month in a row, the Georgia Ports Authority reported Thursday.
Savannah handled 534,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units last month, up from February’s record of 479,850 TEUs. The March total also was 17% above the same month last year.
“The rate of growth was due in large part to two factors: cargo coming back from the U.S. West Coast after the completion of labor contract negotiations, and second, customers front-loading orders to avoid new tariffs,” said Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s president and CEO.
Savannah is the fastest growing container port on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.
Meanwhile, intermodal cargo moving through the Port of Savannah also set an all-time record in March, with 52,645 containers moved by rail. The previous record of 52,446 rail moves was set in January 2021.
The Appalachian Regional Port in Northwest Georgia handled 3,566 containers last month, a huge 47% increase compared to March of last year.