In its busiest August on record and the Authority’s second busiest month ever for container trade, Savannah handled 348,297 twenty-foot equivalent container units, an increase of 5.3 percent or 17,451 TEUs compared to the same month a year ago.

GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch attributed recent growth, in part, to a strengthening economy and retail customers’ preparations for the holiday season, as well as larger cargo exchanges from the post-Panamax vessels now transiting the expanded Panama Canal.

“The growth we’re experiencing in Savannah and Brunswick demonstrates that the logistics market has chosen Georgia’s deepwater ports as must-call gateways for trade,” Lynch said. “Better road and rail connections, unmatched terminal efficiency, and the GPA’s commitment to infrastructure investment means rock-solid reliability through our ports.”

To accommodate growing customer demand in Brunswick, the GPA is adding auto processing space. In July 2016, Colonel’s Island had 60,000 vehicle spaces. By October, the GPA will have added 30,000 new spaces, with plans to add another 60,000. The full expansion will bring Brunswick’s total annual throughput capacity to 1.4 million vehicles.

“Already the largest autoport in the Southeast, Colonel’s Island has more room to grow than any other Ro/Ro facility in the nation,” said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. “The Authority’s plan to expand the physical infrastructure will double our capacity for auto processing.”

Similarly, the GPA will increase Savannah’s ship-to-shore container crane fleet to 36 within two years and double on-terminal rail lift capacity to 1 million containers per year by 2021.

Georgia’s deepwater ports and inland barge terminals support more than 369,000 jobs throughout the state annually and contribute $20.4 billion in income, $84.1 billion in revenue and $2.3 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s economy. The Port of Savannah handled 8.2 percent of the U.S. containerized cargo volume and 10.3 percent of all U.S. containerized exports in CY2015.