Bryan County News hires a new assistant editor

Staff Report

editor@bryancountynews.com

Updated: Apr 6, 2016, 10:12 PM

Published: Apr 6, 2016, 10:14 PM

Ted O’Neil has been named assistant editor at the Bryan County News.

O’Neil, 49, began his new position March 28 as the news and sports reporter for the paper.

“We moved here last October due to my wife’s job, and what better way to get to know Bryan County than to cover what goes on,” he said.
Jason Wermers, the News’ managing editor, said he was lucky to connect so quickly with O’Neil after Brent Zell, the previous assistant editor, gave notice that he was leaving.

“We miss Brent, but I am excited about Ted and the experience he brings to the Bryan County News,” Wermers said. “Ted has hit the ground running and is eager to learn more about the community and report the news that makes Bryan County the special place it is.”

O’Neil, a Michigan State University alumnus, started as a reporter at the Midland Daily News in Michigan in 1989, and then moved into copy editing and page layout before leaving the paper in 1998.

He also has worked as a political aide, was a county commissioner in Michigan for one term and most recently spent 10 years in media relations at the Mackinac Center, a free-market public policy think tank in Michigan.

“Even though I’ve been away from newspapers for a while, the basics of the job are still the same: talking to sources and asking the kinds of questions your readers want the answers to,” he said.

Sue Nelson, the News’ community relations director, said she is excited about O’Neil’s arrival.

“I am thrilled to have Ted O’Neil on board as the assistant editor for the Bryan County News,” she said. “Ted has a solid background in communications and media relations, and we look forward to working with him as we continue to expand our news delivery in print and online.”

O’Neil and his wife, Ginny, live in Richmond Hill. Their daughter, Erin, plays volleyball at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio, and their son, Thomas, is a sophomore at Richmond Hill High School.

The Bryan County News is owned by Savannah-based Morris Newspaper Corp., a privately owned media company with properties in nine states and the Caribbean.

Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port

The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

GardenCityTerminal — The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

Bryan County News

Updated: May 23, 2018, 1:59 AM

Published: May 23, 2018, 2:00 AM

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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