The Georgia Ports Authority had a productive November meeting. First, it was announced that a record 251,566 TEUs were moved through the Port of Savannah in October. TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit and is the standard measurement used for a ship’s cargo carrying capacity. This record was achieved despite interference from Hurricane Matthew in early October and the South Korean cargo company Hanjin filing for bankruptcy in August.
The GPA board approved over $4 million in funding to build a multimodal rail connector that will be part of the Mid-American Arc, an expansion of rail lines from Savannah to Midwestern cities. This project should be completed by 2020. It will cost $140 million, but will double the rail lift capacity to 1 million containers and connect Georgia ports to cities like St. Louis and Memphis.
The board also announced a $15.5 million expansion of vehicle processing infrastructure at the Port of Brunswick. Three projects and an additional 85 acres will be developed on Colonel’s Island Terminal.