With a pandemic virus on, this year’s State of the Port Address from the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) shifted to a virtual format, with Executive Director Griff Lynch and Chairman of the GPA Board Will McKnight giving a tour of new infrastructure and updates on the growth of containers and imports handled by the ports system.
“We appreciate the decisions of cargo owners to place their trust in Georgia. As our economy recovers, customers continue to be attracted by Savannah’s strong fundamentals – including the people who make our ports work,” Lynch said. “I want to thank our GPA employees, the International Longshoremen’s Association and our many partners across the logistics industry for their dedication to service.”
The first quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 was July-September and the Port of Savannah handled 1.2 million containers, even setting a monthly record in September, growing containers handled by 11.4%. This added up to Savannah handling 9.3% of all U.S. cargo volume and 10.5% of all U.S. containerized exports in FY2020. According to commercial real estate services company Cushman Wakefield, the Savannah market has nearly 80 million square feet of industrial space with another 8.7 million square feet under construction.
Governor Brian Kemp also contributed with a recorded statement, noting the private projects that have added thousands of jobs and those millions of square feet of industrial space. “Over the past year, our nation has faced unprecedented challenges that have impacted our daily lives and our economy. We’ve had to rethink how we handle the logistics of healthcare, retail, manufacturing – and the global trade that supports these endeavors,” said Governor Kemp. “Through it all, our ports have remained steady, keeping cargo moving, attracting investment, and building market share.”
Georgia’s ports are critically related to economic development in the state and directly provide more than 160,000 jobs in the state, with nearly 500,000 indirectly supported. These jobs contribute $29 billion in income, $122 billion in revenue and $3.4 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s economy.
In the counties around the Port of Savannah, private investors have announced more than $500 million in industrial projects and more than 1,200 jobs last fiscal year.
“We have more projects than we have probably ever had. Businesses are making decisions. This is not a true recession in the sense of there was a decline in need, it’s just that the world shut down,” said Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson.
Among other major projects announced recently: FedEx is expanding its space by 415,000 square feet in Bryan County; Hooker Furniture is opening a new 800,000 square foot distribution facility in Liberty County; logistics company World Shipping is opening a 280,000 square foot facility in Savannah; and the Georgia Exports Company has established a location by the Appalachian Regional Port in Murray County, loading logs into containers for export. The company is expecting to export more than 28,000 units annually.
“Businesses are taking this opportunity to make investments to continue to grow, and they’re planning for the future, for when we come back,” said Wilson.
