Chances are that sleek Mercedes gliding along Peachtree Street started its U.S. journey at the port of Brunswick.
The port along Georgia’s southeast coast now solidly owns the No. 1 spot for vehicle imports, according to the American Association of Port Authorities.
Brunswick actually surpassed New York-New Jersey in 2011, but that was thought to be an anomoly, according to port officials. It again won the import title for 2012, proving it was no fluke.
Brunswick is No. 2 behind the Big Apple as the nation’s overall busiest car port — imports and exports combined.
Its rise to the top in imports underscores the Georgia coast’s importance to the state economy. The ports of Savannah and Brunswick handle massive amounts of goods that flow through the state and support thousands of jobs.
“The brands we happen to handle have become very popular,” Georgia ports chief Curtis Foltz said in explaining Brunswick’s position in the auto trade. “And a recovering economy bodes very well for us.”
Last year 487,622 vehicles passed under the Sidney Lanier Bridge and onto the 668-acre auto terminal at the port of Brunswick. One of every eight vehicles imported into the U.S. stopped off in Brunswick first before car-haulers dispersed them to dealerships from Virginia to Oklahoma.
Top brands were Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia, Mercede and BMW, and foreign carmakers’ affinity for the South boosted Brunswick traffic. Mercedes, which makes SUVs and crossovers in Alabama, shipped 75,000 vehicles out of Brunswick last year. Hyundai, also with a factory in Alabama, exported 70,000.
In all, nearly 610,000 vehicles came in and out of Brunswick last year, about 100,000 vehicles shy of New York.
“Under any spyglass,” Foltz said, “it was a very good year for us.”
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