Port of Savannah achieves box volume records amid major expansion projects

18/05/2022

The Port of Savannah in Georgia, US has handled 4.75 million TEU in the ten months of the fiscal year 2022 (July 2021 – June 2022), which translates to an 8% increase compared to the same period in the previous year.

Additionally, the major port in the US moved nearly 500,000 TEU in April, which represents the best April and the third-busiest month in the port’s history.

“The phenomenal growth we have achieved has been made possible by the team effort of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and Gateway Terminals employees, the International Longshoremen’s Association, and our partners in trucking and rail,” said GPA executive director, Griff Lynch.

Meanwhile, GPA is expanding berth and container yard capacity in Savannah to accommodate the growing business.

“Our long-running program of infrastructure expansion, coupled with the Authority’s ability as an owner-operator to speed up the schedule of development, has allowed the Port of Savannah to adapt to heightened container volumes,” said GPA board chairman, Joel Wooten, who pointed out that “On-terminal and inland capacity improvements enable cargo to flow across our docks without congestion.”

The capacity improvement of the port is based on the following projects:

• Replacement of the 4,645 m² cargo shed at Mayor’s Point Terminal in Brunswick with a new, double-size warehouse with up-to-date life safety improvements and flooring upgrades to handle heavy cargoes.
• Renovations to container berth 1 at Garden City Terminal, which will increase annual berth capacity by 1.4 million TEU and provide an additional big ship berth served by new ship-to-shore cranes. Substantial completion is expected in June 2023.
• Enhancement of the Port of Savannah’s total rubber-tired gantry crane fleet with the addition of nine new electric RTGs by the spring of 2023, bringing the total number of RTG cranes to 207.
• Further increase of 300,000 TEU in the annual container yard capacity of Garden City Terminal until July by the Peak Capacity Project, which has already added 900,000 TEU of annual capacity to the terminal as of 13 April.
• Phase I of the Garden City Terminal West project will add a 100,000 m² chassis yard adjacent to Ga. 21.
• Phase II of the Garden City Terminal West project will add a total of 1 million TEU of annual capacity, with the first phase coming online in 2023.

Savannah was recently ranked the top US container port by loaded export volume, handling 1.38 million TEU in the calendar year 2021.

Source: Container News