The Port of Savannah moved a record 5.6 million twenty-foot equivalent container units in Calendar Year 2021, growing volumes by a million TEUs, or 20 percent, compared to 2020. In Brunswick, Colonel’s Island Terminal handled 649,550 units of cars, trucks and machinery, an increase of 10.6 percent, according to the company's release.
The Port of Savannah has experienced 12 consecutive months of record container growth. December was no exception, with a record 465,000 TEUs handled, and an all-time high of 312,000 truck gate moves. Counting Roll-on/Roll-off cargo handled via Ocean Terminal in Savannah, GPA moved a total of 668,166 units, an increase of 11 percent or 65,400 units.
In intermodal rail, the Port of Savannah grew by 10 percent in 2021, topping 538,000 container lifts, or nearly 1 million TEUs, a record. The addition of nine working tracks in November expanded the Port of Savannah’s rail lift capacity to 2 million TEUs per year, an immediate increase of 30 percent. The expanded rail yard allows Savannah to build and receive six 10,000-foot long trains simultaneously, speeding the flow of international trade to and from the nation’s third busiest container gateway.
In 2021, Georgia Ports expedited the purchase of new equipment, completion of new capacity on terminal and hiring to accommodate increased demand for services. In total, GPA added four rail-mounted gantry cranes, 10 rubber-tired gantry cranes, 145 employees and annual yard capacity of 400,000 TEUs.
In March, GPA will add 500,000 TEUs of annual capacity, growing to a total of 1.6 million TEUs of new capacity by June – a 25 percent increase in Savannah’s previous capacity for container trade. At the Port of Brunswick, major expansion efforts are under way at Colonel’s Island that will increase Ro/Ro capacity to 1.3 million units by the end of the year, as well as adding new services to prepare vehicles for export.
Georgia’s deepwater ports and inland barge terminals support more than 496,700 jobs throughout the state annually and contribute $29 billion in income, $122 billion in revenue and $3.4 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s economy. The Port of Savannah handled 9.3 percent of total U.S. containerized cargo volume and 10.5 percent of all U.S. containerized exports in FY2020.