Wallenius Wilhelmsen management has celebrated the formal inauguration of their new global facility with customers, business partners, government officials, and staff.
The announcement came on 21 January, with the new facility serving as a southeast US hub for the Oslo-based carrier, which has concentrated Southeast port calls in Brunswick.
The consolidation entails moving from an 85-acre Equipment Processing Centre location in Pooler, Georgia, with port calls at Ocean Terminal in Savannah, to the new, bespoke 300-acre Brunswick complex.
Griff Lynch, CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, said: “Wallenius Wilhelmsen is one of the largest RoRo carriers in the world and we want to thank Lasse Kristoffersen, John Felitto and Mike Derby for their decision to invest their future business model in Brunswick.
“This new facility will be an economic development engine for Glynn County, the Peach State and the Southeast. We wanted to build a facility designed for WW to suit their long-term growth needs.”
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John Felitto, Wallenius Wilhelmsen COO for Logistics Services, added: “Georgia Ports has been an integral partner who listens and is easy to work with.”
The new facility establishes a critical U.S. centre for vehicle export and import that is scalable and agile, as well as an onsite Equipment Processing Centre (EPC) for heavy equipment export and import.
Flavio Batista, Georgia Ports’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Every heavy machinery customer would like to have finish to order (FTO) activities close to the port to reduce costs, improve delivery velocity to customers and access to global markets. At Colonel’s Island, they’re able to perform last mile manufacturing activities inside the port with all the processing and buildings on the terminal to perform their FTO customization work.”