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(Almost) everything you wanted to know about bonds
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In the financial world, stocks tend to get most of the attention. But if you’re going to make progress toward all your long-term goals, you need to be aware of all types of investments - and bonds can be an important part of your portfolio.

Many people, however, don’t fully understand how bonds work. So, before you invest in them, familiarize yourself with the "bond basics." Here are a few of them:

Bonds are "debt" instruments. When you buy shares of stock, you’re actually becoming an owner - although one of a great many - of a company. But when you purchase bonds, you are, in effect, loaning money to whomever issues the bond - a business or the government. If you hold the bond until it matures, you’ll get your principal, or "par value," back (provided the issuer doesn’t default) and, along the way, you’ll receive regular interest payments. A bond’s interest rate is known as the "coupon."

Bond prices will fluctuate. Your bond’s interest rate will not change over the life of the bond. However, the price of your bond can fluctuate, an important factor to keep in mind if you plan on selling your bond before it matures. A bond’s price will move in response to several variables, chief among which is interest rates Bond investments are subject to interest rate risk such that when interest rates rise, the prices of bonds can decrease and the investor can lose principal value. For example, suppose you own a $1,000 bond that pays a 4 percent interest rate. If new bonds are issued at 5 percent, no one will pay you the full $1,000 for your 4 percent bond, so, if you wish to sell, you will have to offer it at a discount. Conversely, if market rates fall to 3 percent, your 4 percent bond will become highly desirable, so you could sell it for more than the $1,000 par value.

Different bonds have different "ratings." If you buy a corporate bond, you’ll have a choice between investment grade bonds - those receiving the higher "grades" issued by rating agencies, such as Moody’s or Standard & Poors - and "junk" bonds - those getting the lowest grades. The higher-quality bonds carry less risk of default but pay a lower interest rate than the "junk" bonds, which must offer the higher rates to attract investors who may be worried about default risk. Generally speaking, you’re probably better off by sticking with "investment grade" bonds and staying away from the "junk."

Some bonds can be "called." A callable bond is a bond that can be redeemed - or "called" - by the issue before its maturity. If interest rates have declined since the bond was originally issued, companies will call bonds and reissue them at the lower, prevailing interest rate, thereby saving money on interest payments. As an investor, this could be cause for concern, because if your bond is called, and you wanted to reinvest the proceeds in a new bond, you’d likely have to accept a lower coupon rate. Consequently, you may want to look for a bond that offers "call protection" - a promise that a bond can’t be called before a certain time.

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Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port
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The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

The Georgia Ports Authority's busiest April ever pushed its fiscal year-to-date totals to more than 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 8.8 percent, or 280,000 TEUs, compared to the first 10 months of fiscal 2017.

"We're on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "We're also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs."

April volumes reached 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units, up 7.1 percent or 23,700 units. As the fastest growing containerport in the nation, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent a year over the past decade.

"As reported in the recent economic impact study by UGA's Terry College of Business, trade through Georgia's deepwater ports translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater productivity," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "In every region of Georgia, employers rely on the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to help them become more competitive on the global stage."

To strengthen the Port of Savannah's ability to support the state's future economic growth, the GPA Board approved $66 million in terminal upgrades, including $24 million for the purchase of 10 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes.  

"The authority is committed to building additional capacity ahead of demand to ensure the Port of Savannah remains a trusted link in the supply chain serving Georgia and the Southeast," Lynch said.

The crane purchase will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal to 156 RTGs. The new cranes will support three new container rows, which the board approved in March. The additional container rows will increase annual capacity at the Port of Savannah by 150,000 TEUs.

The RTGs will work over stacks that are five containers high and six deep, with a truck lane running alongside the stacks. Capable of running on electricity, the cranes will have a lift capacity of 50 metric tons.

The cranes will arrive in two batches of five in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2019.

 Also at Monday's meeting, the GPA Board elected its officers, with Jimmy Allgood as chairman, Will McKnight taking the position of vice chairman and Joel Wooten elected as the next secretary/treasurer.

For more information, visit gaports.com, or contact GPA Senior Director of Corporate Communications Robert Morris at (912) 964-3855 or rmorris@gaports.com.

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