The Port of Savannah has set a new monthly record in November by handling 495,750 TEU, which translates to a 6.7% increase over the previous year for the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA).
“Our employees along with Savannah’s stevedores, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) members, truckers, river captains and many other transportation professionals have pulled together to handle record cargo volumes for an incredible 16 consecutive months,” commented GPA’s executive director, Griff Lynch.
In less than six months, GPA has designed and begun to bring online a series of improvements that will increase the Port of Savannah’s annual capacity by 25%, according to a statement.
Already, 200,000 TEU of container handling space have come online, with an additional 200,000 to be added in three weeks. By March 2022, an additional 500,000 TEU will be added, growing to a total of 1.6 million new capacity by June.
The port authority is also expediting the completion of its Berth 1 expansion which will add 1 million TEU of new berth capacity and eight ship-to-shore cranes at its docks. The project is now 30% complete and is expected to come online at the end of the second quarter of 2023.
Off-terminal, GPA has activated four flexible “pop-up” container yards near manufacturing and distribution centres. The sites in Atlanta, Savannah, Statesboro, and Murray County in Northwest Georgia bring cargo closer to customers and reduce the length of container storage time at the US port.
