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Festival announces local donations
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The Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce and Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival sponsor Southern Eagle Distributing made donations to local nonprofits on Tuesday, including Youth Challenge Academy and Matthew Freeman Projects scholarships for Gold Star siblings. - photo by Jeff Whitte

Checks both big and small were handed out at the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, part of the aftermath of the chamber’s annual Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival.
Literally.
The large checks were courtesy Southern Eagle Distributing, which donated $2,000 each to fund scholarships at Youth Challenge and the Matthew Freeman Project.
Checks of similar amounts — but much smaller in actual size — from the chamber also went to Youth Challenge and the Boy Scouts of America.
And more will be coming to local nonprofits who participated in the 15th annual GOSF, according to Bonnie Proctor, who serves on the chamber’s Seafood Festival Committee.
“That’s the reason we work so hard to raise the money,” she said.
Among the groups who’ve gotten donations are the Richmond Hill Lions’ Club, the YMCA, So Many Angels and others.
Over the festival’s lifetime, the chamber has donated more than $400,000 back to local nonprofit groups, Proctor said.
Southern Eagle was a sponsor of the festival. In addition to the checks presented Tuesday to Lisa Freeman of the Matthew Freeman Project and Dr. Robert Hughes and Carl Davis of Youth Challenge, Southern Eagle also provided the food for the special needs event at the seafood festival held prior to the opening for the general public.
“They did a great job,” Proctor said.
The Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival is the chamber’s largest annual fundraiser. In addition to allowing the group to donate to nonprofits, it also helps keep membership dues low, Proctor said.

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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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