Port Facilities in Coastal Georgia Anchor the Economy
Published Aug 21, 2008
The Port of Savannah is fourth-largest among the USA's 361 deep-water ports.
Amazing statistic: More than 7 percent of Georgia’s total employment is linked to the deep-water ports that operate in Savannah and Brunswick.
More than 280,000 full- and part-time jobs are connected to the ports, as well as $55.8 billion in annual sales – or 8 percent of all sales generated each year in the state.
Of the 361 deep-water ports in the United States, Savannah ranks as fourth largest. Only the ports at Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York/New Jersey handle more cargo.
“A lot of people in Savannah don’t even realize how important their port really is,” says Robert Morris, director of external affairs with the Georgia Ports Authority. “Ten years ago, Savannah was just a sleepy, second-tier port. That certainly isn’t the case anymore.”
The Port of Brunswick also handles a large share of cargo business. For example, its 1,700-acre Colonels Island Terminal is the sixth-largest automobile processing port in the United States, handling cargo from more than a dozen vehicle manufacturers. Also going through Colonels Island are large exports of grain, soybeans and other bulk agricultural commodities.
The Marine Port Terminal at Brunswick exports bulk commodities that are not in containers, such as paper/pulp and ethanol products. And the Mayor’s Point Terminal specializes in forest products and general cargo.
In 2007, the Port of Savannah increased revenue by nearly 27 percent, the biggest percentage increase in the nation and nearly three times the rate of the second-place Port of Virginia.
“We have enjoyed amazing growth lately, especially when several ports are in negative numbers for growth,” Morris says. “For instance, Miami was negative 9 percent for growth in 2007, while our close neighbor Charleston was at negative 1 percent.”
Morris says increased U.S. demand for imported goods from the Far East and India has helped Savannah grow.
Savannah serves as a major distribution hub for a 26-state region that includes 75 percent of the U.S. population. The port is serviced by more than 100 trucking firms that have easy access to several highways, while CSX and Norfolk Southern operate rail yards to transport goods, Morris says.
Savannah is also the only major U.S. port that has a balance of 50 percent imports to 50 percent exports.
“That’s because Georgia’s main export commodities – mining products and clay, forest products, fluff pulp and poultry – are in great demand in the growing and thriving middle-class populations of China, India and Vietnam,” says Page Siplon, executive director of the Georgia Logistics Innovation Center, based at Georgia Tech’s Savannah campus. “Most terminals in our country are 80-20 imports to exports, but Savannah is 50-50. That doesn’t happen anywhere else.”
Siplon credits the success of Savannah’s port to a number of factors.
“I look at the port as a kind of ecosystem, with everything linked together,” he says. “First of all, the port is large, with 28 terminals for loading and unloading cargo. Then there is a successful trucking and train industry to transport goods to and from the port, and our location is within easy highway access to most of the country’s population. The Port of Savannah is just an incredible facility that is getting better and more successful all the time.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Todd Bennett
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