Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Port of Savannah import growth surges

The Port of Savannah is the second ranked container port on the East Coast, second to New York, and ranks No. 4 in the nation after Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to data gathered by Datamyne and compiled by Bloomberg.

"Not only have we been the fastest-growing port in the U.S. for a decade now," said Curtis Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said at the organization’s annual meeting in September. "But we’re now in a position to grow and become No. 1. Something that was unfathomable a decade ago is something that is at least within our sight."

Savannah has been the fastest-growing major U.S. harbor for most of the last decade with an average annual growth rate of 11 percent, thanks to its transportation network and the economic expansion in the U.S. and southeast region.

"This is the fastest-growing demographic area in the country, and it will be the fastest-growing demographic area in the country for the next half century," Foltz said. "We are the leading port serving the Southeast."

The Port of Savannah’s September imports climbed 21.7 percent compared with a 7 percent increase for New York, although New York still imported almost twice the cargo—256,244 TEUs compared to 125,113 at Savannah. The busiest U.S. port, Los Angeles, grew 9.6 percent last month and imports into Long Beach, the second-busiest, rose 4.3 percent.

New York’s ranking as the third ranked U.S. port probably won’t be threatened anytime soon.

"It has been widely accepted and time-tested that ships will always move large cargo volumes through New York because of its massive consuming population," Stan Payne, the former head of the Canaveral Port Authority in Florida and now a shipping consultant, said in an e-mail. "In the end, if Savannah does overtake New York and New Jersey, and it certainly is within the realm of reasonable possibility, then it will do so because of focus and a political and operating structure that provides it the control to turn that focus into results."

Another port in Brunswick, Georgia, handles mainly Ro-Ro traffic, including auto exports. Brunswick also imports more Jaguars, Mercedes and Porsches than any port in the U.S.

Together, the two ports contributed $32.4 billion to Georgia’s economy in 2011, or 7.8 percent of the total, according to a University of Georgia study.

For more of the Bloomberg story: www.bloomberg.com



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