Georgia Ports’ executive Curtis Foltz likes to remind people that the ports’ reach and influence extends far beyond Savannah. A perfect example is Tractor Supply, which on Monday held a ribbon cutting for a new Macon distribution center serving the entire Southeast that will more than double the company’s volume through the Port of Savannah.
Jeremy Cox, international transportation manager at Tractor Supply, said the company anticipates moving 7,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units — known as TEUs — a year through the Port of Savannah to serve the new Macon location. That’s up from an average of 3,000 TEUs moved through our ports annually to serve the old center in Braselton in northeast Georgia.
Tractor Supply President and CEO Gregory Sandfort said location was key in choosing Macon.
“Considering where our stores are located, Macon made more sense. It’s also closer to the Port of Savannah,” Sandfort said.
Sandfort said while the physical footprint is smaller than at the Braselton site, the new center will hold more stock through greater building height.
“Its capacity is larger, and it’s closer to the interstate, close to the port, and it has expansion capabilities here that we didn’t have in Braselton.”
Because the new center is closer to the port, the company will be able to reduce the expense of transporting goods, especially those from Asia. The wide availability of sailings across their ocean carrier network through Savannah was also important, company officials said.
The Port of Savannah features 37 weekly vessel calls, reaching destinations worldwide.
As the company realigns its distribution network, the new distribution center will add another 25 stores to the 183 initially in its service region, including some existing retail outlets, said Bob Churchill, Tractor Supply’s vice president for distribution.
The Macon operation also will provide some products to other distribution centers in Kentucky, Indiana and Maryland.
WRRDA demystified
From the vice president to the governor, there has been a lot of conversation in Savannah the last few weeks about the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013, primarily because its impending passage will clear the last hurdle to deepening the Savannah River.
Included in the act is an amended budget for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, whose costs have increased significantly since Congress originally approved it in 1999. Once WRRDA becomes law – hopefully late this year – and an already drawn up project partnership agreement between state and federal entities is signed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be ready to begin construction.
The bill, which came out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week, is scheduled for a floor vote in the U.S. House the week of Oct. 7.
Congressman Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican and chair of the Committee, was in Savannah this week with U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah to talk about the importance of the bill, both to Georgia and the nation as a whole.
Shuster’s office also has posted a whiteboard video, available at Savannahnow.com, offering the best explanation I’ve seen of what WRRDA is and how it works.
Fast facts
Page Siplon, director of the Georgia Centers of Innovation, offers those encouraging tidbits in his September Logistics Snapshot:
• Import shipment volumes at U.S. ports totaled 1.61 million TEUs in August, the second highest monthly volume since July 2007 (Source: Zepol Corporation)
• In the year ending June 30th, the Georgia Ports Authority moved a record-setting 27.2 million tons of cargo across all terminals, a 2.4 percent increase over FY2012.
It was the GPA’s second-busiest year for container throughput, with more than 2.94 million TEUs moved. Of that total, a record number 314,623 containers were moved by rail. (Source: GPA)
• For the second year in a row, the GPA achieved a record total for auto and machinery units at the Port of Brunswick, moving 636,942 units for an 11.7-percent improvement in FY2013. Bulk cargo hit 2.5 million tons, up 61.8 percent. (Source: GPA)
• Merchandise being exported from Georgia grew 4 percent in the first half of 2013, reaching a record $18.5 billion. Key merchandise export categories include transportation equipment, machinery, chemicals, paper and food. (Source: International Trade Administration)
To sign-up to receive these free monthly snapshots, go to www.GeorgiaLogistics.com.
Ocean innovation
Ocean Exchange co-founder and CEO Cort Atkinson reminds us that 13 finalists from around the world will arrive in Savannah on Saturday as they prepare to share their innovative solutions with more than 100 delegates from leading business, government and nonprofits groups from across the globe.
“These delegates are coming to Savannah to learn about the top ‘Solutions Inspiring Action’ and begin to identify how they can help to accelerate global awareness and adoption of these solutions to improve environment, economies and health.”
For more information, go to http://www.oceanexchange.org.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
SHIPPING SCHEDULE
These are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean Terminals in the next week. Sailing schedules are provided by Georgia Ports Authority and are subject to change.
Terminal Ship name Arrival
GCT MUSTAFA DAYI Today
GCT MSC CAROLE Today
GCT GENOA EXPRESS Today
GCT NYK RUMINA Today
GCT MAERSK DRUMMOND Today
GCT CSCL BRISBANE Today
OT GRANDE SIERRA LEONE Today
GCT EVER DIVINE Saturday
GCT MOL COSMOS Saturday
GCT CMA CGM AMBER Saturday
GCT CMA CGM EIFFEL Saturday
GCT VENICE BRIDGE Saturday
GCT ST LOUIS EXPRESS Saturday
OT PARSIFAL Saturday
OT STAR FUJI Saturday
GCT MSC SEATTLE Sunday
GCT ARNOLD MAERSK Sunday
GCT DALLAS EXPRESS Sunday
OT TONSBERG Sunday
GCT HYUNDAI DYNASTY Monday
GCT UASC SITRAH Monday
GCT MAERSK DENVER Monday
GCT OAKLAND EXPRESS Monday
GCT NYK ROMULUS Monday
GCT HANJIN CHITTAGONG Monday
GCT ZIM QINGDAO Tuesday
GCT MOL EXPEDITOR Tuesday
GCT YM MOBILITY Tuesday
GCT NYK DENEB Tuesday
GCT BERLIN EXPRESS Tuesday
GCT STADT LUNEBURG Wednesday
GCT ZIM MEDITERRANEAN Thursday
GCT SAFMARINE BANDAMA Thursday
GCT MAERSK CAROLINA Thursday
GCT MSC RITA Thursday
GCT CSAV LLANQUIHUE Thursday
GCT ISLANDIA Thursday
GCT AMOLIANI Thursday
GCT HANJIN MONACO Thursday