Hurricane Irma isn’t helping the Port of Savannah as huge ships come and go. The good news is that largest ship ever to call on the East Coast departed Sunday from Savannah. The not-so-good news is that a large vessel is due to arrive Friday at 2 p.m. – just 10 hours before the port is to close.
Tag: Savannah port
Posted inLatest News
As Georgians evacuate Hurricane Matthew, seafarers have few safe places to go
It’s easy to forget the impact on seaports and merchant mariners when the most compelling storm images are of thousands of families fleeing their homes under a mandatory evacuation order as Hurricane Matthew bears down on the Georgia coast.
Posted inLatest News
Savannah then and now: Harbor deepening 100 years ago created demand for deeper waters today
Long before “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” put a new spin on its tagline as “Hostess City of the South,” Savannah was known to ignore the basic needs of its lifeblood – cargo ships.
Posted inColumns
Cautions aside, Savannah port expects more cargo after bigger Panama Canal opens June 26
Despite cautionary remarks in a report by the real estate company CBRE, Georgia’s ports expect to handle more cargo and add more to the state’s economy once the expanded Panama Canal opens this month, Griff Lynch, incoming executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said Monday.
Posted inLatest News
Savannah port benefits from good access, capacity, proximity to Atlanta: CBRE
A new report by CBRE, the real estate company, sheds light on the reason the Savannah port is growing its cargo business so quickly. It’s because the port has the capacity to handle a lot of freight, which makes it a good choice for shippers looking for a port on the east coast.
Posted inLatest News
Savannah port continues to mark record growth in container volume
The Port of Savannah continues a trend of record-breaking growth in handling containerized trade, the Georgia Ports Authority reported Monday.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Georgia Ports Authority names new leader, who will serve as harbor is deepened
The board that oversees the Georgia Ports Authority on Wednesday announced the appointment of a new executive director, just a week after announcing that 2015 was the ports’ busiest year ever.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Savannah port handles more cargo as GDOT aims to facilitate access to, from port
The state port in Savannah handled a significant increase in freight in 2015, compared to 2014, and is purchasing four new cranes to expand its ability to move cargo. State transportation officials are working to respond to a demand for mobility to and from the port.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Palmetto Pipeline sponsor earns good credit rating, expands in Savannah
Kinder Morgan, Inc., the company that wants to build the Palmetto Pipeline project along the Savannah River and Georgia coast, has received a positive credit report from Moody’s Investors Service.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Georgia to expand Brunswick port, raising stakes in East Coast competition
Georgia is raising the stakes in the competition among East Coast ports by announcing a 10-year plan to invest $152 million in improvements to the state port in Brunswick.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Dredging company hired for Savannah Harbor wins complex project along Gulf coast
The dredging company retained to deepen the Savannah Harbor has won a major contract in Louisiana, which illustrates the company’s depth of experience in handling major earth-moving projects.
Posted inColumns, David Pendered, Main Slider
Savannah port to handle more freight, but how will roads, rails handle extra load?
One aspect of the Savannah Harbor deepening project has received scant attention: How is all that additional freight to get in and out of the port? New York’s answer to its growing volume is six-hour traffic jams at its terminals.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Dredging company wins contract for Savannah, vows to protect environment, marine habitat
After 16 years of planning and debate over the deepening of the Savannah Harbor, the federal government announced Wednesday it has hired a company to begin the first phase of dredging.
Posted inDavid Pendered
With port deepening assured, Savannah turns to next project: More warehouses as supply absorbed
Georgia’s ambition for the Port of Savannah to smother its competitors is evident in the latest initiative – calling on the private sector to nearly double the amount of warehouse space near Savannah.
This additional warehouse space is part of a double-barreled approach to grow cargo capacity. The other aspect is a planned network of inland ports that would rival in size the Louisiana Purchase.
These expansion plans are founded on the deepening of the Savannah shipping channel to accommodate huge vessels. On Monday, the ports authority announced that a necessary contract with the federal government is to be signed within two weeks. Construction is likely to begin in early 2015.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Savannah port to expand trade to imports of South American produce
Blueberries, grapes and citrus fruits from certain South American countries are to arrive on the docks of Savannah starting Sept. 1 under a pilot program that aims to treat for pests with cold temperatures rather than methods such as fumigation.
The shipments are to begin under a USDA-approved pilot program. The treatment method already is used in states including Florida and California, according to trade publications. In Savannah, the program could bolster the port’s role as a leading way station for food entering and leaving the country.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Construction delays at Panama Canal could affect Savannah harbor project
The $266 million that Georgia is setting aside for the planned deepening of the Savannah harbor is being protected by a proposed financial bailout of the Panama Canal expansion project.
The Savannah project is based on the premise that Savannah needs a deeper harbor to handle the bigger ships expected to transit the bigger Panama Canal. However, work on the canal resumed just last week – and only on a limited basis – after a two-week stoppage because of disagreement over $1.6 billion in cost overruns.
The entire budget for the canal’s expansion is $5.25 billion. The total cost now is forecast at nearly $7 billion, which is an increase of more than 30 percent above original projections.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Good news for icy metro roads: Savannah port closed, reducing number of trucks in Atlanta area
The Savannah port was closed Wednesday, which provided one saving grace for metro Atlanta’s weather-clogged roads.
“Any truck traffic that would have been moving from the port to the city of Atlanta was eliminated or reduced significantly,” said ports authority spokesman Robert Morris.
Gov. Nathan Deal said Wednesday that jack-knifed tractor-trailer rigs on metro Atlanta roads had contributed to the region’s paralysis after wintry weather shut many roads Tuesday afternoon. A significant proportion of trucks in the region are headed to or from the Savannah port.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Brazil, a dynamic business partner, site of Reed’s next trade mission
Brazil is one of Georgia’s leading trade partners, and Mayor Kasim Reed intends to strengthen relations during a trade mission he’s to lead there in April. Reed is just wrapping up his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Metro Atlanta’s connection to Brazil is closer than might be expected, if the only consideration were the 4,600 flight miles or so that separate Atlanta from the capitol, Sao Paulo. An air router showed this distance is about 400 miles more than the mileage between Atlanta and London.
In terms of trade through Georgia’s seaports, Brazil is the state’s eighth largest export market and the 15th largest source of imports, according to the U.S. Census. A UGA study showed in 2012 that more than 156,000 jobs in metro Atlanta are tied to Georgia’s ports.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Proposed four-lane road in middle Georgia promoted as traffic reliever for I-20 in Atlanta, helpful to port
Community leaders who advocate for a new highway that would improve access between LaGrange and Macon are pitching the proposed road as a way to ease traffic congestion in Atlanta and freight shipments to and from the state port in Savannah.
The proposed highway earned high marks from the consultant who drafted the recent long-term transportation plan for the Georgia Department of Transportation. For their part, GDOT officials have said the state has scant dollars for major new projects.
But the economic challenge hasn’t stopped two regional commissions – Three Rivers and Middle Georgia – from launching a campaign urging GDOT to conduct a corridor study. Among the reasons they cite for the road is the relief it could provide to I-20 in Atlanta.
Posted inDavid Pendered
GDOT report: Transportation sales tax won’t begin to fix state’s freight systems
It turns out that more than $18 billion really doesn’t go as far as it used to.
That’s the amount to be raised within the next decade if voters in July approve the 1 percent sales tax for transportation in each of Georgia’s 12 special tax districts. Even that amount didn’t provide for the majority of road, transit and airport projects initially proposed.
Nor does the sum begin to make a dent in the $18 billion to $20 billion list of upgrades that must be made to the state’s freight handling systems – its highways, railroads, Savannah seaport and airports in Atlanta and Albany, according to a new report from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
