At the Georgia Ports Authority board meeting today, Executive Director Curtis Foltz reported that the GPA achieved record volumes and added additional customer accounts in October.
“Strong growth, new customer accounts and additional harbor deepening funding announced this month are all positive signs that Georgia’s ports are moving in the right direction,” said Foltz.
Georgia ports moved a record 2.54 million tons of cargo during October, a 22 percent increase over the same month a year ago. The Colonel’s Island Terminal at the Port of Brunswick and Savannah’s Ocean Terminal combined to move a record 62,343 units of automobiles and heavy machinery in October, for an increase of 10,045 or 19.2 percent over October 2012.
October’s growth pushed total tonnage to 9.6 million for the fiscal year to date, a 9.2 percent increase over the same period in FY2013.
Also in October, the GPA achieved a 19 percent increase in twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), reaching 274,362 TEUs, an increase of 43,723 for the month. For the fiscal year, the GPA has moved 1.06 million TEUs, for a 5.3 percent increase over the previous year.
At the board meeting, Foltz also reported that major new accounts have been added to the Port of Savannah’s portfolio. Those included Hankook Tires, which has established a new distribution facility in Liberty County, which will house 600,000 tires and serve 10 states in the Southeastern U.S.
Another win for the GPA was the relocation of flooring producer Shaw Industries’ Southeast distribution center to Savannah from Columbia, S.C. With the move, the Dalton, Ga., company has doubled its square footage at its Northport Parkway location from 156,000 square feet to more than 300,000.
See Tuesday’s Savannah Morning News or return to savannahnow.com for the full story.