The Port of Savannah has witnessed an increase of 21 per cent in loaded container exports in January, handling 110,305 TEU.
The total cargo showed an 11.7 per cent improvement over pre-pandemic levels in January 2020, handling 421,714 TEU.
The growth in exports was driven in part by particularly robust growth in trade lanes to Europe and the Mediterranean according to the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA).
The overall total cargo dipped 55,000 TEU or 11.5 per cent compared to January 2022. The decrease in total cargo was driven in part by reduced orders in retail and manufacturing.
This resulted in import loads softening by 39,850 TEU, or 16 per cent, and the export of empty containers via Savannah declining 34,650 TEU on reduced demand for Asian goods served by the empty boxes.
READ: Port of Savannah tops 1 million TEU two months into FY 2023
Turning to ongoing projects and investments, the Garden City Terminal Berth 1 project, which will allow the port to serve larger vessels, is now 80 per cent complete. The first four of eight massive cranes have arrived, and the project is set to be finished by July.
Upon completion, the port will be able to simultaneously serve four vessels capable of carrying 16,000+ TEU, as well as three additional ships.
The enhanced berth will add 1.5 million TEU of annual berth capacity, providing faster vessel service and better accommodate the big ships calling on Savannah.
Adjacent to the port’s main container terminal, the Garden City Terminal West project will deliver another 90 acres of new storage, supported by 15 electric Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes.
This project is now 20 per cent complete and will add 1 million TEU of annual capacity, coming online in phases in 2023 and 2024.
With a new cross-dock facility and renovations to Ocean Terminal, these projects will increase the Port of Savannah’s annual capacity from 6 million to 7.5 million TEU in 2023 and to 9 million TEU by 2025.
READ: Port of Savannah to receive major capacity boost
At the Port of Brunswick, trade in autos and heavy machinery grew 9 per cent in January, up 4,600 units to 57,127. For the fiscal year to date, Brunswick is up 16.7 per cent to more than 411,000 Roll-on/Roll-off units.
To accommodate RoRo cargo carried by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, GPA is improving Colonel’s Island Terminal to grow annual capacity in Brunswick from 1.2 million to 1.4 million units of RoRo cargo.
Private chilled and frozen warehouse space in Savannah is set to grow by 11 per cent in 2023 to more than 2.2 million square feet.
