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Sheehan joins CBPP
Becky Sheehan has joined Coldwell Banker Platinum Partners as a sales associate for the Richmond Hill office. Sheehan will specialize in residential properties in Richmond Hill and the surrounding area.
Sheehan was previously a licensed assistant and buyers agent for ReMax Accent in Richmond Hill. She received her bachelor of professional accounting from Mississippi State University. Sheehan is a past president of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.  
She is a licensed Georgia real estate agent and is a member of the Savannah Area Board of Realtors, the Georgia Association of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors. Sheehan can be reached at (912)-507-8779.

Whitlock to lead sales
Craig Whitlock has been named director of real estate sales of Bryan County’s newest residential community, Dunham Marsh.
Whitlock will oversee the sales organization, strategic marketing and planning for the sale of homes and homesites at the 200-acre planned residential community on the outskirts of Richmond Hill. Whitlock will supervise the selling of Dunham Marsh’s wide variety of home and homesite offerings, including cottage homes, park homes, carriage homes and estate homes.
Whitlock previously worked as a real estate sales executive and sales manager for Genesis Designer Homes of Savannah and was an employee of Marriott Vacation Club International in Palm Springs, Calif.
The West Lafayette, Ind., native earned his Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1998 from Purdue University, and also attended Hanover College. He started his career as an educator, teaching sixth grade math, science and computer classes for two years in Indiana.
Whitlock and his wife, Angie, live in the Savannah area with their infant daughter.

Regulating cash advances  
A bill being introduced in the Georgia Legislature this week establishes strict oversight and licensing procedures while enforcing strong consumer protections for the cash advance industry in Georgia.
 The bill gives the state the authority to levy fines up to $1,000 a day per incident per location against cash advance licensees who violate the new law.
Georgia’s new cash advance law is being called the toughest in the nation, featuring more consumer safeguards than any other state. Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia regulate  the cash advance industry.
Importantly, Georgia’s new law will:
- Prohibit cash advances to active duty military personnel and their dependents
- Allow consumers to set up a payment plan if they are unable to repay their advance when due
- Allow up to 45 days to repay a cash advance
- Allow consumers to rescind the transaction within 24 hours at no cost
- Prohibit cash advance businesses from taking criminal action against consumers
- Limit fees to only $15 per $100 advanced, with strict prohibitions on additional fees or charges
- Prohibit licensees from taking collateral on a cash advance
- Require a $500 licensing fee for each firm seeking to provide cash advances in Georgia, in addition to a surety bond ranging from $10,000 to $250,000
- Prohibit cash advance businesses from allowing consumers to renew or “roll over” their advances
- Require licensed cash advance businesses to post consumer financial education information prominently in their stores that promotes responsible use of their products
For more information, please visit www.georgiansforcashadvance.org.
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Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port
GardenCityTerminal
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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