Ga. ports chief Doug Marchand to step down

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Doug Marchand, who has led the Georgia Ports Authority through 15 years of explosive growth, announced Thursday he’ll step down Jan. 1.

Curtis Foltz, the authority’s chief operating officer, will replace him.

Marchand will continue to advise Foltz and the authority, particularly on the expansion of the Savannah harbor and a future bi-state port planned across the river in Jasper County, S.C.

“Under his leadership, Savannah has grown to the fourth-largest container port in the nation and is recognized as the fastest-growing container port in America,” said Gov. Sonny Perdue, who attended the annual State of the Port Address on Thursday in Savannah. “During his tenure, GPA more than quadrupled the number of containers shipped through our ports here in Georgia.”

Marchand is credited industrywide with the establishment of warehouses near the port to attract big-name retailers like Home Depot, Wal-Mart, IKEA and others.

In other news, Marchand said that Kia Motors and its suppliers will ship 15,000 containers through Savannah to the manufacturing plant in West Point during the factory’s first year of operation.