The Georgia Ports Authority wrapped up fiscal 2013 in June with record volumes for total tonnage, bulk cargo, total auto-machinery units and freight moved by intermodal rail but once again missed the 3 million mark in container traffic.
“One of the things that are great about the GPA is that we are a very diversified portfolio of businesses, so while it wasn’t a record year for us in container volume, we were extremely strong in both liquid and dry bulk and extremely strong in automobile activity, both here and in Brunswick,” GPA executive director Curtis Foltz said Monday.
“All in all, it added up to another win for the state of Georgia, for the economy and for jobs in this area.”
The ports handled 27.2 million tons of cargo during the year, an all-time record, Foltz told his board Monday.
“Our overall tonnage increase has been fueled by the strength of U.S. exports and the GPA’s varied cargo spectrum,” Foltz said.
The bulk commodity group had an outstanding recovery year, he said, increasing 62 percent over fiscal 2012 on significant growth in liquid bulk in Savannah and dry bulk in Brunswick.
A reduction of machinery volume at Ocean Terminal in Savannah — attributed to lower Caterpillar exports to Australia as the mining industry continues to slow — was partially offset by record-setting automobile volumes at Brunswick’s Colonel’s Island auto processing terminal.
“For the second year in a row, we’ve set a record for total auto and machinery units in Brunswick, now the third busiest port in the U.S. for total roll-on/roll-off cargo and the second busiest port for imports,” he said.
Foltz is looking for more of the same in fiscal year 2014, as Subaru, Honda and Toyota have recently begun moving through Brunswick.
Container volumes were flat, falling 33,000 TEUs — or 20-foot container equivalents — shy of last year’s total. Foltz attributed the drop to the loss of between 70,000 and 80,000 containers to diversions during the threat of an East Coast dockworkers strike from October to February.
Foltz was upbeat on container trade, however.
“We ended the fiscal year quite well from a container standpoint, with growth in each month of the final quarter,” he said, adding the port maintains a balanced 52-to-48 percent ratio of exports to imports.
For fiscal 2014, which began July 1, Foltz anticipates record container volumes, building on growth in consumer spending and increased home construction.
GPA also expects to benefit from the new G6 East Coast carrier deployments — where the two largest carrier consortiums have come together — as Savannah is the only East Coast port to receive all six services.
The port also stands to benefit from the recently announced “P3,” a global consortium being formed by the three largest ocean carriers in the world — Maersk, MSC and CMA/CGM.
“That consortium is still in the early stages of getting regulatory approvals,” Foltz said. “If they clear those hurdles — and I think they will — they will have some 40 percent of global capacity under one umbrella, giving them economies of scale that will be hard for anyone else to match, a strong cost basis, and the ability to leverage the whole procurement chain — everything from ports to buying fuel.
“There will definitely be winners and losers as far as ports around the world go, with a lot of locations challenged to handle that type of volume through a single facility.
“We’re very fortunate here at Garden City Terminal. Due to our size and scope, handling the P3 will be a non-issue,” Foltz said.
“We already handle the big three at this single terminal today, but you can image how most ports — which handle each of the three at different terminals — are going to struggle to get them all in one place.”
2013 BY THE NUMBERS
Category FY 2012 FY 2013 Change
Tonnage 26.5 million 27.2 million 2.4 percent
Containers 2.96 million 2.94 million (1.1 percent)
Ro/Ro units 569,984 636,942 11.7 percent
Bulk tonnage 1.56 million 2.52 million 61.8 percent