The Georgia Ports Authority moved an all-time high 519,390 twenty-foot equivalent container units in May, breaking the previous record of 504,350 TEUs set in October 2021. GPA’s May volumes grew by 8.5 percent, or 40,770 TEUs, compared to the same month last year, according to the company's release.
GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch noted Garden City Terminal is handling more business during the current influx of trade than during the previous spike, last fall. The additional trade is driven in part by vessels diverting to Savannah from other East and West Coast ports.
As of April, GPA has added 900,000 TEUs of annual capacity to Garden City Terminal. Another 300,000 are expected to come online in July for a new total of more than 7 million TEUs of container handling space.
Additionally, Phase I of the Garden City Terminal West expansion has added a 25-acre container yard adjacent to Ga. Highway 21, a principal truck route approaching the main terminal. Phase II will add up to 1 million TEUs of annual capacity, which will begin coming online in 2023.
The Port of Savannah completed 327,400 truck gate moves in May, counting loaded import and export containers, as well as the movement of empty chassis. Thanks to the flexibility of motor carriers taking advantage of night gate hours, Garden City Terminal facilitated more than 15,000 truck moves between the hours of 7 and 11 p.m. last month, up from just over 10,000 in April. Another 48,000 containers (approximately 88,000 TEUs) moved by rail in May.
In addition to the container trade, GPA achieved a 28 percent increase in breakbulk cargo for the month. Breakbulk commodities including iron and steel, rubber, and forest products reached 320,722 tons in May, up 70,780 tons.
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 more than 519,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units in May, a record. Georgia Ports Authority is expanding Berth 1 (50 percent complete) and yard capacity in Savannah to accommodate the growing container trade.