The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) implemented a growth plan in 2016, which has made GPA one of the nation’s top auto processing area, GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said recently in his annual State of the Port address.
Port of Brunswick is the nation’s single-largest auto port. When combined with the Port of Savannah, Brunswick is the second-busiest roll-on/roll-off port.
Colonel’s Island Terminal saw its auto processing capacity grow 50 percent and now has a capacity of 800,000 cars annually.
East River Terminal handles bulk commodities and saw all commodities rise, except for wood pellets.
“Last year, we told you we would be implementing an infrastructure investment philosophy we’ve used at Savannah’s container operation for years now,” GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood said. “That philosophy is to maintain capacity above current demand. Investing for the future has enabled the GPA to take on new customers and handle greater than expected container growth without congestion or capacity worries. We anticipate the same benefits for the auto trade here in Brunswick.”
Collectively, GPA’s deep-water ports have been adding volume faster than competitors. Since 2007, GPA’s growth rate has been 8 percent, quadrupling competitors.
GPA plans to expand, with the goal of handling 1.4 million vehicles annually.