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A computer glitch that twice snarled traffic around Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal Wednesday had GPA staff scrambling to find a fix that would get the big trucks moving into the port again.
The backups slowed traffic to a standstill on Georgia Highway 25 from about 8:30 a.m. until shortly after 11 Wednesday morning and again from 2:30 to 3 o’clock Wednesday afternoon, as big tractor-trailer rigs queued up along Ga. 25 and Ga. 307.
“Our network was never down, but gate operators had trouble continuously accessing the IT system, causing delays for trucks trying to get into the terminal,” GPA spokesman Robert Morris said.
The port has been expanding and updating its technology in the past weeks to handle additional cargo and gate moves, he said.
“We’re still not sure exactly what caused the glitch, but we’re narrowing down the possibilities,” Morris said late Wednesday.
Gates at Garden City Terminal remained open until 8 p.m. Wednesday night and will do the same today, he said.
“We apologize for any temporary inconvenience this may have caused our maritime and trucking communities and want them to know we’re working hard to ensure this won’t happen again,” he said.
The three-hour gate delays Wednesday morning turned Ga. 25 into a parking lot from Crossgate Road south toward Garden City, prompting Port Wentworth Police Chief Matt Libby to close the highway from Bonnybridge Road to the ports.
Traffic was also backed up on Ga. 307 entering the port beyond Georgia Highway 21.
Wednesday afternoon’s outage closed Ga. 25 again for a much briefer period.
Morris said the GPA’s information technology staff does not think the problems were caused by a virus.
“More than likely, it’s growing pains,” he said.
