Port of Savannah plans to expand container capacity by 60%

In his annual State of Port address, GPA Executive Director, Griff Lynch, announced a plan to increase box capacity of the Port of Savannah by 60% from about 6m teu to 9.5m teu by 2025.

The Port of Savannah is the second largest container port on the East coast after New York/New Jersey. It has seen 18 consecutive months of growth, moving a record 5.6m teu in 2021, a 20% increase from 2020.

Several projects are underway Lynch said, and by the middle of the decade he anticipates the growth will dramatically increase monthly container volume.

Savannah is expanding its Berth 1, increasing on-dock capacity by 25%, which by 2023 will allow it to simultaneously serve four 16,000-teu vessels as well as three additional ships. The renovations will add an estimated 1.5m teu per year of berth capacity.

The Savannah Harbour Expansion Project, set to be finished in March, will allow accommodating larger ships. The deeper river channel will allow 16,000-plus-teu vessels to take on heavier loads and transit the river with greater scheduling flexibility.

About 400,000 teu of capacity was just added at the Garden City Terminal, which will add an additional 820,000 by June, while a new upriver container yard will yield another 500,000 teus in capacity, for a total of 1.72m teus in fourth months. Also, the Garden City Terminal West project will bring in up to 1m teu by 2024.

“The public and private investment that we’re seeing, as well as the number of people being drawn to the business, make Savannah the hottest market in the country for transportation and logistics,” Lynch said.

“This project has been more than 20 years in the making,” Lynch said. “Through it all, there has been strong support across several administrations, from the General Assembly and our congressional delegation. A special debt of gratitude goes to the late Sen. Johnny Isakson, who shepherded our harbour deepening efforts through the federal process.”

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