b'2American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comGeorgia Ports: expandingGEORGIA PORTS 2023for future growthCargo operations are also being rationalized, with Savannahtospecializeinhandlingcontainers while breakbulk and ro/ro will head to Brunswick. Retaining West Coast diverted freight a priority.By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT OnFebruary9,thefirstperswithmoreEastCoast four of eight new cranes slatedoptions for Asian cargo, and a to work Berth 1 of the Port ofsouthward shift of production Savannahs Garden City Ter- in Asia saw more cargo arriv-minal arrived at the port, parting in Georgia ports through ofaprojectthatwillallowtheSuezCanal.Theselon-Garden City to service largerger-term cargo growth trends vessels.WhentheBerth1aredrivingtheinvestments improvements,whicharetothatwillincreasecontainer add 1.5 million TEU of capac- capacity at the Port of Savan-ity,arefinishedinJuly,thenah from the current 6 million port will be able to simultane- TEU to 9 million by 2025.ously accommodate four shipsBesides the improvements of16,000TEUorlarger,asbeing made at the Garden City well as three more ships.Terminal, the GPA in JanuaryRenovations to Berth 1 at Garden City Terminal are nearing completion. The project will give Savannah four berths AccordingtotheGeor- (EXPANDINGcontinuedfor vessels carrying 16,000+ twenty-foot equivalent container units, and three additional berths. The improvements giaPortsAuthority(GPA)on page 4) will increase the ports annual berth capacity by 25 percent.Photo Credit GPAfacilities handled a record 5.9 million TEUin2022,a5% increase over 2021. In Janu-ary 2023, Savannah saw total cargo volumes dip 11.5% year LOSE.overyear,includinga16% drop in imports. But January came in 11.7% ahead of the pre-pandemicJanuary2020 andFebruaryisexpected to showsimilarresults.Mean-while, container exports fromWthe Port of Savannah grew aAIT.solid 21% in January. M arketN orMaliziNgThemarketisdefinitely normalizing, said Griff Lynch, GPAs executive director. After a few months of declines, we shouldstartseeingthenum-bers stabilize and get back to normal. The last two years have not been normaltheyve been ridiculous.Exportgrowthhasbeen drivenbyincreasesinfur-niture,refrigeratedgoods, andplastics.Theincrease inplasticsisnewbusiness fortheport,notedLynch, drivenbyLNGproduction in the gulf. Griff Lynch, GPAs executive directorThePortofSavannah was one of the main benefi-ciariesofthemovementof cargofromWestCoastto East Coast ports, as COVID-relatedsupply-chainprob-lemsleftCaliforniaports snarledandthefailuretoCOMING JULY 2023reachacontractwithport labor left the threat of a strikeThings are moving fast at the Port of Savannah. looming in the West. But the cargo growth in Savannah isWere expanding Berth 1 to accommodate more big ships. hardlynew.TheexpandedThat means you trim the wait. Check it out. gaports.com/losewait/Panama Canal provided ship-'