Griff Lynch, Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) executive director, recently outlined GPA’s $2.5 billion, 10-year plan to expand the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal’s capacity from 5.5 million 20-foot equivalent unit containers (TEUs) to 8 million.
Projects include berth improvements, off terminal road additions, gate and container storage expansions, and the Mason Mega Rail facility, which will double the port’s rail capacity to 1 million lifts annually by 2020.
The plan also includes new equipment purchases such as 64 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes and eight additional ship-to-shore cranes.
“We’re preparing to redefine the Port of Savannah as not simply the load center for the Southeastern U.S., but as the port of choice for major inland markets east of the Mississippi River,” Lynch said.
Since 2011, the port has grown 45 percent, which is an additional 1.2 million TEUs, and the harbor deepening project is 50 percent complete. Additionally, the Jimmy Deloach Parkway has ensured cargo moves without delays and more efficiently.
The port is the nation’s single largest container terminal and the fastest growing with a compound annual growth rate of 4.5 percent.
In fiscal year 2018, GPA handled 4.2 million TEUs or 325,000 additional units, increasing 8.4 percent from fiscal year 2017.