While all eyes are on deepening the huge container port on the Savannah River, big things are going on down the road in Brunswick, where GPA’s Colonel’s Island Terminal is now No. 1 in the country for new car imports.
“With the United States back to $16 million in auto sales, both imports and exports of autos at Colonel’s Island are big and getting bigger,” GPA Executive Director Curtis Foltz said earlier this week.
“In addition to becoming No. 1 in the U.S. for the import of new automobiles, we’re now No. 2 overall for the processing of both imports and exports — and we think that’s going to continue to grow.”
Georgia’s in a sweet spot demographically for auto manufacturers to hit the large Florida markets and everything in the Southeast, he said.
“We’re also well-situated for exports coming out of the new manufacturing facilities that have started to build in the Southeast,” he said.
“Who ever would have thought that Mercedes Benz would be shipping 60,000 automobiles built in Vance, Ala., through our port back to Europe every year?
“It’s an ever-changing dynamic that’s all about global competitiveness.”
The only potential fly in the ointment has a familiar theme — channel depth.
“The Brunswick channel has an authorized depth of 36 feet, which the Corps of Engineers maintains through the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund,” he said. “This fund, which brings in an average of $1.6 billion a year through taxes and fees on imported goods, was specifically set up by Congress to maintain the nation’s waterways at their authorized depths.
“Unfortunately, only about half of what has been collected every year is actually appropriated for maintenance, despite the fact that it is the sole purpose of the fund,” Foltz said.
“The result is we have waterways around the nation, like Brunswick, that are woefully underfunded.”
Brunswick was deepened to its authorized 36 feet some 4 years ago. Today, due to the shortfall of funds to maintain it, the channel depth is currently at 29-30 feet, creating a major impact on competitiveness, he said.
“Brunswick is just a small example of what’s happening across the nation as we look at the infrastructure inadequacies that are impeding our ability to compete for global commerce,” Foltz said.
In order to combat this issue, GPA has taken the relatively unprecedented step of offering to provide $3 million of its own funds to dredge the channel to its authorized depth.
It’s not something Foltz and his board are particularly happy about.
“This is a federal channel, it’s the federal government’s responsibility to maintain it,” he said. “They collect enough money to do it, but every year the government has taken some of that money and used it for other things instead of its intended purpose.”
There is a bright spot on the horizon. The Water Resources Development Act, now working its way through Congress, contains language that addresses the shortfall, Foltz said.
“I don’t know what that language will look like in the final bill, but I suspect it will contain a stronger obligation for the federal government to take the money that’s collected in the trust fund and actually appropriate it for the intended role.”
Senior business writer Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for Savannah Morning News and Savannahnow. Reach her at 912-652-0324 or mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT ZIM MONACO Today
GCT MAERSK KENTUCKY Today
GCT MUKADDES KALKAVAN Today
GCT MSC STELLA Today
GCT MSC MAUREEN Today
GCT VARAMO Today
GCT MAERSK MONTANA Today
GCT ZIM PANAMA Today
GCT HANJIN MARSEILLES Today
OT TONSBERG Today
OT BAHRI JAZAN Today
OT GRANDE GUINEA Today
GCT NORTHERN DEDICATION Saturday
GCT CMA CGM L’ETOILE Saturday
GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESS Saturday
GCT CSAV LINGUE Saturday
GCT BEATRICE Saturday
GCT COLUMBINE MAERSK Saturday
OT SEA MASTER Saturday
GCT JPO LIBRA Sunday
GCT MSC JOANNA Sunday
GCT OOCL VANCOUVER Sunday
GCT OOCL SEOUL Sunday
OT STAR ISFJORD Sunday
GCT HANJIN CHITTAGONG Monday
GCT HANJIN SAN DIEGO Monday
GCT MSC SOCOTRA Monday
GCT COSCO VENICE Monday
GCT VANCOUVER EXPRESS Monday
GCT MAERSK MEMPHIS Monday
GCT SUDAIR Monday
OT PAC ALKAID Monday
OT ATLANTIC PENDANT Monday
GCT ZIM HAIFA Tuesday
GCT ZIM TEXAS Tuesday
GCT MSC MELISSA Tuesday
GCT MOL ENDOWMENT Tuesday
GCT EVER DECENT Tuesday
GCT SUEZ CANAL BRIDGE Tuesday
GCT KOBE EXPRESS Tuesday
GCT MSC RANIA Wednesday
GCT SHIPPAN ISLAND Wednesday
GCT TORM GERD Wednesday
GCT MOL MARVEL Wednesday
GCT MARY Wednesday
GCT UASC JEDDAH Wednesday
GCT NYK RUMINA Wednesday
OT TARAGO Wednesday
GCT ZIM SAVANNAH Thursday
GCT MAERSK IOWA Thursday
GCT MAERSK ROUBAIX Thursday
GCT CSAV LARAQUETE Thursday
GCT YM MILESTONE Thursday