Georgia ports business booms while scanning a stormy horizon

More cargo than ever before sailed from the port of Savannah the past fiscal year, a surprisingly welcome amount of exports during a tough economic time.

And metro Atlanta, according to a report released Friday by the Georgia Ports Authority, produced $8 billion worth of goods that flowed into and out of Savannah.

“Even during down times we, as a port, have continued to grow,” Curtis Foltz, the ports authority executive director, told dozens of business and government officials gathered Friday in Midtown for the annual State of the Port update.

“We have a huge impact on economic recovery not just for the state of Georgia, but for the U.S.,” he said.

Savannah’s rapid rise the past decade in the U.S. port hierarchy -- it is the nation’s fourth busiest container port -- is imperiled, though, by the possibility that the port won’t be deepened enough to handle the next generation of super-sized cargo ships.

Of more immediate concern: Double-digit growth the past few months is expected to tail off as 2010 winds down. Major retailers largely have restocked warehouses in preparation for the holiday season.

Savannah notched a 21 percent increase in container shipments in July 2010 versus July 2009. Ports officials expect about a 6 percent growth rate for October, November and December. The first half of 2011 looks soft, too.

In all, Savannah saw a 9.7 percent rise in container traffic through its port the past fiscal year. Ports nationwide registered only a 1.2 percent increase.

Savannah handles 8 percent of all container traffic flowing into and out of the United States, a “hugely significant” amount, Foltz said.

Looming like an iceberg on the horizon, though, is a decision expected next summer by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on whether to deepen the Savannah harbor and river. The harbor’s depth now rests at 42 feet.

Ports officials insist a depth of 48 feet is necessary to handle the massive cargo ships that can hold 12,600 containers, nearly three times the amount of most ships calling on Savannah today. They expect the mega-ships to call on East Coast ports by 2015, once the Panama Canal’s expansion is completed.

“This project is critically important to all Georgians and it’s critically important for economic growth,” Foltz said. “If we don’t get the deepening we don’t get the larger ships. They’ll go elsewhere.”

METRO AREA CARGO

About $8 billion worth of cargo was produced, shipped or received in the 28-county metro Atlanta region, according to the Georgia Ports Authority and PIERS, a cargo analysis firm. Here are the region’s top five counties, by dollar value:

Fulton: $3.3 billion.

Cobb: $1.3 billion.

Gwinnett: $1.1 billion.