Splash247: Savannah volumes edge lower despite strong finish to financial year

Published by Splash247

The Port of Savannah handled 5.67m teu in the financial year ended June 30, narrowly below the 5.7m teu moved in the previous 12 months as the US east coast gateway closed the period with a sharp rise in June traffic.

June throughput increased 18% year on year to 483,684 teu, a gain of nearly 73,300 teu, with Georgia Ports Authority saying cargo was continuing to shift to Savannah.

The annual result leaves Savannah broadly level with the previous financial year while the authority advances a nearly $5bn, 10-year infrastructure programme designed to add five large-vessel container berths.

Rail remained an important part of the port’s inland distribution network. Mason Mega Rail handled 541,405 containers during the year, marking the third consecutive financial year above 500,000 units.

Rail accounted for 17% of Savannah’s container trade, with the remainder moving by truck. The port currently handles 42 double-stack train movements each week.

The Appalachian Regional Port recorded its strongest year to date, handling 49,319 intermodal containers. Volumes increased 20%, or by more than 8,100 units, compared with the previous financial year.

Georgia Ports expanded its inland network in May with the opening of the $134m Gainesville Inland Port, a rail-connected extension of Savannah serving manufacturers and industrial cargo owners in northeast Georgia.

Road access to Garden City Terminal was also upgraded with the July opening of the $130m Brampton Road Connector.

The four-lane highway links Gate 3 directly with the interstate network, removes at-grade rail crossings and diverts port trucks away from nearby residential areas.

Wider state road projects include a $295m expansion of the I-16 and I-95 interchange and a $468.35m contract to widen an 18-mile section of I-16 from two to three lanes in each direction.

Savannah currently receives around 40 ship calls a week and handles approximately 14,000 truck gate moves a day.

At the Port of Brunswick, ro-ro traffic fell 12.4% to 763,122 vehicles and machinery units during the financial year. The total included 713,179 cars and 49,943 units of heavy machinery.

Georgia Ports attributed the decline to weaker global vehicle-market conditions, although Brunswick remained the largest US ro-ro port by annual automotive volumes.