Port pushes capacity

The Georgia Ports Authority Board has approved more than US$34m to help expedite an additional 1.6m twenty-foot equivalent container units in capacity at the Port of Savannah that will begin coming online in December.

“In three months, this investment will begin to deliver the additional capacity we need to better accommodate increased volumes and demand for our services,” said Griff Lynch, executive director for the GPA.

Scope of expansion

Part of the approved expenditures included the purchase of 22.2 acres adjacent to GPA’s 145-acre West Expansion property.

The board also provided funds to begin developing another 18 acres of land adjacent to GPA’s 60-acre Peak Capacity project, currently under construction. In total, the developments will add 230 acres of container handling space, coming online in phases with full completion in 2023.

The Peak Capacity Project is currently under construction and will provide 800,000 TEUs of annual capacity at the Port of Savannah. The project will be completed in two phases, with the first coming online in December.

The Port of Savannah handled 485,595 TEUs in August, an increase of 10%, or 44,000 TEUs over the same month last year, which was the previous high for August. It was the second busiest month in GPA history, after only March 2021, when Garden City Terminal handled 498,000 TEUs.