Georgia Ports Authority Plans 20% Expansion of Savannah Container Capacity

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday April 1, 2021

The Georgia Ports Authority is seeking to boost container capacity at Savannah by 20% over the next two years.

The authority has approved plans to upgrade the Garden City Terminal's berth capacity to 6 million TEU/year by June 2023, it said in a statement on its website this week.

"Right now, we are moving container volumes that we did not expect to see for another four years," Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said in the statement.

"Our employees are working very hard to ensure we continue to provide our customers with world-class service.

"Additionally, we are expediting capacity projects that will increase the speed and fluidity of cargo handling at the Port of Savannah."

Savannah handled 390,804 TEU of cargo in February, up by 7.2% from the same month a year earlier and the busiest February on record.

The global container industry has been in disarray in recent months with a rapid recovery in demand after the COVID-19 crisis driving sharp increases in freight rates. Further disruption came last week as the Suez Canal blockage delayed several hundred ships.

Container ships are the largest consumers of bunker fuel.