Deepening Savannah's port

Business

Deepening Savannah's port

Deepening Savannah's port

The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project will cost $706 million

So far, $266 million of the entire $706 million project has been raised by Georgia taxpayers. It’s up to Congress to pony up the rest. .

Each dollar spent is projected to return $5.50 in benefits, or $174 million annually.

The project is 41 miles long, from the Garden City Terminal into the Atlantic Ocean.

The project will deepen the river from 42 to 47 feet.

The port has an estimated $39 billion economic impact in Georgia.

The port is the second busiest (after New York/New Jersey) on the East Coast. .

A deeper river is needed, state and federal officials say, because ever-larger container ships from Asia, many traversing the under-expansion Panama Canal, demand deeper water.

Workers will have to complete massive dredging, engineering and environmental mitigation projects within five years for the project to succeed.

An estimated 6,100 temporary jobs are expected to be created.

The corps says that every $1 spent deepening the river will return $5.50 in economic benefits, or $174 million a year once the fully laden big ships start rolling up the river.

The port supports about 100,000 jobs across metro Atlanta.

Top exports: Wood pulp, paper and paperboard, poultry (fresh and frozen).

The port of Savannah is the fourth busiest container port in the U.S.

A record 3.1 million containers were imported and exported last year.

“The harbor deepening is a massive project and one of the biggest concerns is not just how it will affect business in the harbor, but along the entire Savannah River,” said Tonya Bonitatibus, the Savannah Riverkeeper.

About half of the $706 million to be spent mitigating environmental harm.

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The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project will cost $706 million

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