Map of ships waiting to get into the Port of Savannah and those already upriver – click to see a live version
Whether it’s Atlanta’s downtown connector, or highway 316 into Athens on a fall Saturday, Georgians are no strangers to traffic. But off the state’s coast near the Port of Savannah a different kind of traffic is building up, one that could have ramifications across the entire region.
Thanks to massive shipping volume caused in part because of increased online shopping through the pandemic, the Port of Savannah saw its second busiest month in history in August, 10 percent higher than year’s August total (which was at the time a record). And despite upgrades to the port and its ability to unload more, larger ships, all those extra ships mean traffic jams are inevitable.
On the shipping tracker site cruisin.me you can see the traffic in and out of the port in real time, including the dozens of ships stuck in holding patterns out east of Tybee Island.
As retailers attempt to stock up ahead of the holiday season, supply chain issues figure to continue through the end of the year. Those could result in product shortages and hiked up prices.
Other ports, like those in Los Angeles, are seeing similar backups. And while Port of Savannah officials work to increase container capacity (officials announced Tuesday that they are investing $34 million to add 230 additional acres to handle containers) it’s very difficult to keep pace with global shipping bottlenecks.
The good news? Shipping volumes will continue to increase, and Georgia’s ports are better equipped than nearly any to grow, not restricted by large cities nearby like major ports in Los Angeles, New York, or Miami.
