Port of Savannah outperforming national container market

The Georgia Ports Authority handled 552,800 twenty-foot equivalent container units in October, for an increase of 9.6 percent (48,460 TEUs) compared to the same month last year.

“Customers continue to bring new or expanding business to the Port of Savannah, drawn by our global connectivity and the supply chain network that links Savannah to major U.S. markets,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. “We can report that ships at anchor are trending downward and expanded berth capacity coming online next year will allow us to serve our growing customer base with even greater efficiency.”

Lynch thanked GPA employees, as well as the port’s partners across the logistics community for their efforts in handling the business.

Port of Savannah

October was GPA’s second busiest month on record after only August of this year, when the Port of Savannah handled 575,500 TEUs. GPA has now topped half a million TEUs in three of the first four months of Fiscal Year 2023, for total volumes of 2.1 million TEUs for the year to date.

In the opening months of the current fiscal year, 160 importers were either new customers at the Port of Savannah or existing customers who grew their Savannah trade by 20 percent or more. This combined increase represented 107,000 additional TEUs from July through October compared to the previous year.

“There has been downward pressure on the total U.S. container trade related to inflation and a shift in consumer spending toward services such as restaurants and travel,” said GPA Board Chairman Joel Wooten. “However, the Port of Savannah continues to outperform relative to the national market, driving new business for Georgia.”

Additionally, Savannah and other East and Gulf Coast ports have been gaining market share relative to the West Coast. According to the most recent data from PIERS/IHS Markit, the East Coast increased its share of the container trade from 47 percent in July 2021 to 48.4 percent in July of this year.

Port of Brunswick

The Port of Brunswick also achieved significant growth in October. Colonel’s Island Terminal handled 70,233 units of Roll-on/Roll-off cargo last month, an increase of 22,045 units or nearly 46 percent.

“Greater availability of computer chips has allowed carmakers to increase production,” said GPA Chief Commercial Officer Cliff Pyron. “This, combined with manufacturers’ traditional end-of-year push, yielded strong results for our October auto volumes.”