Last week, JAMES Online reported Georgia’s tops in the country ranking for infrastructure and the Georgia Ports system was no small part of that. This week, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced that it continues its record pace. Seemingly every quarter and every year is a new record for the ports in some category. One of the most important – the Roll-on/Roll-off volume – reached a new high at 723,500 units in Fiscal Year 2023, a increase of nearly 20 percent or more than 109,000 units over the previous year.
“The Port of Brunswick achieved strong growth in the import and export of heavy machinery, while auto manufacturers’ improved microchip supply also meant an increase in vehicles,” said GPA President/CEO Griff Lynch. “I’d like to thank our customers for their continued confidence in Brunswick as a superior gateway to the U.S., and the auto processors for the world-class service they are providing.”
Roll-on/Roll-off, or Ro/Ro, means wheeled vehicle cargo, such as cars, motorcycles or buses. Nissan was added as a Brunswick customer in FY 23, with the Colonel’s Island terminal handling imports from Japan and Mexico.
“New business and new capacity are establishing the Port of Brunswick as the nation’s premier auto port,” said Fountain. “Already the largest U.S. terminal in current acreage and room to grow, Colonel’s Island offers exporters a broad ocean carrier network, and provides importers easy access to the region’s dealerships.”
PIERS is the industry tracker for ports data and it shows that the Port of Savannah achieved 11.2 percent market in container trade among mainland ports through April, the highest market share ever for the state’s largest port.
“This continues a trend stemming from the U.S. Southeast’s fast-growing population, increased domestic production and a shift in overseas manufacturing toward India and Southeast Asia, favoring delivery via Savannah,” Lynch said. “I’d like to commend GPA employees, and our partners at Gateway Terminals and the International Longshoremen’s Association for their outstanding work during our second busiest year ever.”
The FY 23 numbers are interestingly still down compared to FY 22, when companies were loading up depleted inventories after the pandemic-caused lull of imports and exports in FY 21. Compared to FY 2019 however, volume is up 20 percent – a growth rate of 4.7 percent per year since that year.
To handle all that volume, GPA is investing nearly $2 billion in infrastructure projects, including increasing capacity at the Garden City Terminal by 25 percent, adding hundreds of acres of storage and faster turnaround times for ocean carriers, savings for shippers. An additional 640,000 square feet is going in at the Port of Brunswick, five new buildings and 122 acres of automobile storage. That Ro/Ro capacity will increase from 1.2 million to 1.4 million per year when completed.
“Georgia Ports’ steady long-term growth is thanks to outstanding customer service and superior global connections,” said GPA Board Chairman Kent Fountain. “These are certainly contributing factors behind Area Development magazine ranking Georgia the top state for doing business since 2014.”
