The Port of Savannah saw container trade increase 32 percent last month, with Garden City Terminal moving 410,000 20-foot equivalent container units, setting a record for a single month.
The port is the largest container terminal in North America and moved 1.42 million units between July 1 and Oct. 31, a 12.3 percent increase.
The port leads the East Coast in kaolin clay, poultry, raw cotton, and wood pulp shipments.
“Since the opening of the expanded Panama Canal, Garden City Terminal has experienced meteoric growth,” Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said. “We’re now handling more ships, bigger vessels, and larger cargo exchanges. By working more weekly vessel calls than any other East Coast port, and serving more neopanamax ships than any other port in the U.S. Southeast, Savannah has strengthened its position as a vital gateway to the global marketplace.”
Georgia’s ports export a high volume of logs, lumber, paper, and paperboard.
Lynch said the completion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project will allow larger ships to travel the Savannah River which lowers the cost per container slot.
The project cost $266 million in state funds and $127.8 million in federal funds.
The project is expected to return $7.30 for every dollar spent on construction, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study.