It’s official, we’ve got a recession on. By definition, this means we had a second consecutive quarter of economic contraction. Keep in mind however, these numbers are nationwide. Of course the economy of the country as a whole means a great deal to the 50 individual states but the rate of growth from state to state can vary relatively widely, even during a recession. Regional advantages or shocks could mean a recession hits one area harder than another or some state may have an advantage for some reason over another.
In the case of Georgia’s ports, the second quarter was anything but a recession. The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced on Tuesday that it had its busiest June ever in fiscal year 2022, handling nearly half a million containers. This was an increase of more than 10 percent over last June, almost 50,000 more containers. As goes Georgia ports does not necessarily equate to Georgia avoiding a recession, but the ports remain an anchor for the state’s economy in a way that is nearly unmatched among most states in the country, not to mention our southern neighbors.
“As the hub in a global network of road, rail and ocean carrier connections, our ports link Georgia businesses to international trade lanes and open doors to prosperity for our state and nation,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. “The Georgia Ports Authority and its partners in the logistics industry are powerful drivers for local economies across the Peach State, from small communities to our thriving urban centers.”
One comparative advantage Georgia ports have at the moment is years of labor trouble at west coast ports, shifting a significant portion of goods that might have otherwise been offloaded in Los Angeles or Long Beach to Savannah and Brunswick. To get a better idea of the volume of goods moving through the ports, just one terminal, the Garden City Terminal in Savannah, saw a weekday average of 14,500 truck turns in June – a truck turn refers to a truck entering and then exiting the terminal. That number refers to both inbound and outbound goods but it is a remarkable number to consider just the street traffic related to loading the massive ships that find a brief home at a Georgia port.
“Despite the record volumes, the Port of Savannah remains fluid,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. “Several factors have contributed to our growing container capacity, including expedited infrastructure projects, our inland pop-up yards and an influx of truck drivers moving to the Southeast.”
The Georgia Ports Authority expanded hiring over the recent months to keep up with the demand, bringing a total of 1,650 direct employees of GPA. Indirect jobs like suppliers, contractors and other support personnel for both the deepwater ports on the coast and inland terminals, such as the relatively new inland terminal in Cordele, total more than 496,000 across the logistics hub of a state that Georgia has become.
“I would like to thank our employees, as well as our partners at Gateway Terminals and the International Longshoremen’s Association for their outstanding work to keep commerce flowing across our docks,” Lynch said. “Through communication, collaboration and teamwork, we continue to provide unmatched service to our mutual customers.”
