Amid reporting the second busiest month ever in the Port of Savannah, Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has approved more than US$34 million to facilitate the addition of 1.6 million TEU of container capacity.
The Peak Capacity Project, foreground, is currently under construction and will provide 800,000TEU of annual capacity at the Port of Savannah. The project will be completed in two phases, with the first coming online in December.
The executive director of GPA, Griff Lynch affirmed that in three months this investment will begin to deliver the additional capacity that the Port of Savannah needs to better accommodate the increased volumes and demand for services.
The approved expenditures for the capacity extension project include the acquisition of 89,000m² of land, adjacent to GPA’s 59,000m² West Expansion property, while the board also provided funds to develop another land of 72,800m², next to GPA’s 242,800 under-construction Peak Capacity project.
In total, the investments will add more than 930,700m² of container handling space, according to the Georgia Ports Authority.
“The GPA’s expansion strategy will not only maintain Savannah’s position as the hub port of the US Southeast but strengthen its ability to drive economic growth and private investment for communities across Georgia,” commented Joel Wooten, GPA’s chairman of the board.
Meanwhile, the Port of Savannah handled 485,595TEU in August which translates to an increase of 10% compared to the same month of 2020 which was the previous highest August. It is also the second busiest month in GPA’s history, after March 2021, when Garden City Terminal handled 498,000TEU.
