The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) handled 490,330 TEU in May, a 22 per cent increase, or roughly 90,000 TEU, over the same month last year.
GPA President and CEO, Griff Lynch, said: “Major retail customers tell Georgia Ports they have increased their orders to rebuild inventories and to meet rising consumer demand. Additionally, we’ve seen an increase in trade among Tier 1 suppliers for the new Hyundai Meta Plant, which also added to our May container volumes.”
While there have been reports of congestion in Southeast US ports, Lynch claims there is no congestion in Savannah.
He noted that GPA is benefitting from source shifting as more manufacturers set up production facilities in Southeast Asian countries that prefer Savannah for delivery.
The Port of Savannah has shown an increase in container commerce in every month of the Calendar Year 2024 compared to 2023. GPA’s May performance outperformed its April figures by 11 per cent.
Lynch also noted that June is also likely to be very favourable, with over 320,000 TEU of import cargo slated for Savannah presently on the sea.
In May, the Appalachian Regional Port set a record for intermodal goods, carrying 3,600 containers by inland rail.
Last month, 44,000 forty-foot boxes were handled by rail at the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal, representing a 2 per cent increase of 900 containers.
GPA has handled 2.2 million TEU of total cargo this calendar year, up 12.7 per cent from the same period in 2023.
GPA Board Chairman, Kent Fountain, said: “The teamwork among our GPA employees and our supply chain partners delivers unmatched service for our customers. In order to press Georgia’s logistical advantage, the Board is investing significantly in new capacity across our docks, container yards, truck gates and rail connections.”
The Port of Savannah has handled 770 vessels this calendar year through May, up 36 from the same period last year.
In February, GPA announced plans to invest $29 million to build an overpass connecting Ocean Terminal to Route 17.
