Georgia Ports Weather Economy, Expand
Published Aug 18, 2009
Coastal Georgia boasted the fastest-growing U.S. port in 2008.
The Georgia Ports Authority is adding capacity, buying massive $8 million cranes and boasting what few if any of its peers can say about 2008 – a small gain in cargo volume over the previous year.
An even split between imports and exports helped the Port of Savannah sidestep the early months of the downturn as oversea markets continued to buy, says Robert Morris, the ports authority’s director of external affairs.
“You end up not having all your eggs in one basket,” Morris says. “We dodged many months of the recession due to strong exports.”
The Port of Savannah, with a 0.5 percent increase in volume, was the fastest-growing U.S. port in 2008. It now ranks second on the East Coast and fourth in the country in terms of volume, and is poised to grow even more.
The ports authority is pushing ahead with plans to expand its container capacity from 3.6 million to 7.5 million units by growing up rather than out. The 1,200-acre footprint will remain; instead, the facility is adding racks and equipment so it can stack containers higher and deeper.
“It is a good thing to use every inch of terminal space,” Morris says.
A Big Dig
All eyes are on 2014, the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal opening, when work to widen and deepen the canal will give larger container ships direct access to East Coast ports. To prepare, dredging will drop depth in Savannah Harbor from 42 to 48 feet, and the port will be ready.
“That will open up movement of cargo to the East Coast in an incredible way,” Morris says. “It will add lots of savings to delivery of cargo to the most populated region of the United States.” Clay, paper and poultry products are the biggest exports, and a strong import-export balance has distinguished Georgia for years, says Page Siplon, executive director of the Logistics Innovation Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Savannah campus.
“This isn’t just a recent trend,” he says. “This is our history because of focus and leadership at the state to create an environment that is different than other port communities.”
Georgia ports, including one in Brunswick and two inland facilities, are always looking at innovative ways to handle logistics, Siplon says.
In Savannah, four new super post-panamax cranes, named for the vessels that will use the widened Panama Canal, went on line earlier this summer, an investment of $32 million.
The authority opened an $11 million intermodal transfer rail facility at its Garden City operations in January.
Investments also include switching cranes and other equipment from diesel fuel to electric power, an annual savings of 1.1 million gallons of fuel.
Like its peers, Savannah saw double-digit drops in volume in early 2009, but Georgia’s ports are poised for better times. The capital investment, Morris says, “is a good sign we are in this for the long haul. We are focusing on the increases we have made in market share and bringing on additional services,” he says. “We see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by Todd Bennett
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