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Port traffic sets record for February
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ST. SIMONS ISLAND — The Port of Savannah posted a record February for the number of cargo containers it moved last month, which also was one of the strongest months ever for automobile imports coming into Brunswick, the Georgia Ports Authority reported Monday.

Curtis Foltz, the executive director of Georgia's ports, ran down the numbers at the Ports Authority board's meeting on St. Simons Island. Foltz said the shipping business is getting a boost from retailers restocking their inventories to meet growing demand from consumers.

The Savannah port, the fourth busiest U.S. container port, handled 1.79 million cargo containers last month — the most imports and exports it's ever moved in February and an increase of 16 percent over the same month last year.

"That's an extremely high volume for February," said Foltz, who predicts the Savannah port will end its fiscal year June 30 with container volume up by 10 to 12 percent.

The Brunswick port also had a busy month handling 40,734 automobiles imported by manufacturers such as Hyundai, Mercedes and BMW. Foltz said that's one of the best months for autos that Brunswick has ever seen, marking an increase of nearly 79 percent over February 2010.

Alec Poitevint, the Ports Authority chairman, said Savannah's port growth underscores the need to deepen the city's harbor to accommodate larger cargo ships — especially to ensure Georgia can export more goods such as wood pulp, clay and carpet.

"To make sure our economy recovers and sustains itself, we have to have those exports," Poitevint 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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