Port of Savannah reports 22% growth in containers

Caption

In this photo provided by the Georgia Ports Authority, a vessel is loaded with containers by a ship to shore crane at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah Garden City Terminal, on Oct. 21, 2021, in Savannah, Ga. Georgia's seaports are reporting their second-busiest year despite a decline in the volume of retail goods moving across their docks. The Georgia Ports Authority said Tuesday, July 25, 2023, that the Port of Savannah handled 5.4 million container units of imports and exports in the 2023 fiscal year that ended June 30.

Credit: Stephen B. Morton/Georgia Port Authority via AP

ATLANTA — A strengthening retail market and new customers are combining to drive growth at the Port of Savannah.

The port handled 490,330 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) last month, up 22% compared to May of last year, the Georgia Ports Authority reported Thursday.

In fact, the Port of Savannah has seen an increase in container volumes every month of this calendar year compared to 2023. So far this year, the ports authority has handled 2.2 million TEUs, an increase of 12.7% over the first five months of last year.

The port is benefiting from source shifting, as more manufacturers establish production facilities in Southeast Asia locations that favor delivery via Savannah, said Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s president and CEO.

“Major retail customers tell Georgia Ports they have increased their orders to rebuild inventories to meet rising consumer demand,” Lynch said. “Additionally, we’ve seen an increase in trade among … suppliers for the new Hyundai Meta Plant.”

May was also a good month for the Appalachian Regional Port in Northwest Georgia, which receives shipments of containers by rail and loads them onto trucks for transport to markets in the Mid-South and Midwest. The inland terminal moved a record 3,600 containers last month.

The ports authority is building a second inland port in Gainesville, a $127 million project due to be completed in 2026.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Capitol Beat.