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Georgia's port of Savannah forecasts box throughput in 2017 will hit 4m TEU

DURING the first six months of the 2017 calendar year, the port of Savannah's Garden City Terminal handled 1.99 million TEU, raising the expectations of port officials that total container throughput for the whole of the current calendar year will reach four million TEU, according to executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), Griff Lynch.

Mr Lynch presented the projection at the annual state of the port address, hosted by GPA and the Propeller Club of the United States-port of Savannah at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Centre, reported AJOT.

Buoyed by megaship traffic via the expanded Panama Canal, the port of Savannah set a container volume record in its fiscal year ended June 30, handling 3.85 million TEU, representing an increase of 6.9 per cent compared to the preceding 12-month period. The port has since then continued to report record throughput months, as the port continues to work a rising number of mega-containerships.

In September, the port of Savannah had to close for six days, primarily due to hurricane-caused damage to navigational aids, and promptly rebounded by welcoming eight ships, including the 14,000-TEU CMA CGM John Adams.

Mr Lynch noted that, earlier this year, the GPA approved purchase of six more neo-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes to arrive in 2020, augmenting four similar new big units to be operational in mid-2018, to bring the 1,200-acre Garden City Terminal's total such contingent to 36.

Mr Lynch said the port already offers capacity for handling up to 6.5 million TEU a year and is moving forward to further enhance capabilities, including with rail-served inland ports and a consolidated "mega-rail facility" serving the port of Savannah.