For years, the Georgia Ports Authority has proven the mantra, "If you build it, they will come."
Under the leadership of Executive Director Griff Lynch, the GPA keep buildings. If projections hold true, the trucks, ships and trains will keep rolling.
At the annual State of the Ports luncheon on Wednesday, Lynch outlined immediate, moderate and long-term expansion goals for the Port of Savannah, which is in the midst of another record-breaking year. To make way for the continued demand of products and exports flowing through the port, Lynch said GPA will make use of undeveloped land within the port's existing footprint.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
"We have enough land to do whatever we want to," Lynch told a crowd of hundreds at the Savannah Convention Center. "We must make decisions the right way for the right impacts."
The GPA is charting a course to expand container capacity by 60% in three years, and announced long-term goals of building out terminals on Hutchinson Island and across the river in Jasper County, South Carolina.
Gov. Brian Kemp was on-hand to offer remarks about the GPA's record volume since 2019, but said longer-term plans will take a back-burner to immediate needs, like expanding storage capacity and finding more truck drivers to alleviate labor shortages.
Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News
Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News
"Those things are gonna take a lot of permitting, gonna take a long time to do that. And I think everybody has been forward thinking," he said. "We have immediate issues that we got to tackle. And that's what we're focused on here in the Georgia ports. And I know they're doing the same (in South Carolina)."
By 2025, the GPA plans to have the capacity to move about 9 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit, or container) a year. Today, the port can handle 6 million TEUs annually.
By 2050, GPA plans for a 20 million TEUs capacity.
State of the Ports 2022 by savannahnow.com on Scribd
To do this, the Savannah port will continue expanding its on-site capacity to store containers and load trucks and rail lines to get cargo moving toward its final destination. The estimated cost for the expansions to 2050 is about $3 billion, Lynch said.
"Most of these things that need to happen. And what it results in is that we have enough land here to absorb all the business that wants to come ashore," Lynch said. "We can build all this exciting stuff, but unless we have folks who are actually bringing business here, it's all for naught."
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Beyond the port gates, Savannah boasts a low warehouse vacancy rate of 2.3%. According to Lynch, another 17 million square feet of warehousing space is under construction.
"The local community here in Savannah has been named the No. 1 market for warehouse absorption," Lynch told the crowd. "That just means that as quick as we build, we got a customer that comes in."
With the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) nearing the end of its 28-year project timeline, bigger ships will be able to make their way down the river to dock at the port's terminals. But one final hurdle stands in GPA's way: the Talmadge Bridge.
Credit: GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY
Credit: GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY
The bridge connecting South Carolina and Georgia was built in the 1990s and is still young for such a large infrastructure project. But according to Lynch, the bridge needs to be replaced.
Lynch said the GPA will have two options to present to the public when the proposals are finalized, which is expected this summer. "Then we'll kind of have, maybe, a little bit more work to do," Lynch said of the joint project with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
Kemp said the state is aware of environmental concerns stemming from SHEP and other port-related activities, and will ensure GPA's land expansion won't unnecessarily harm the environment.
Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News
Credit: Nancy Guan / Savannah Morning News
"One of the things that's great about Georgia is our quality of life," Kemp said. "And that is not something that we want to disrupt here. We've got to move goods and commerce, but we can do it in a respectful way."
GPA also plans to reroute trains that go through Garden City — six railroad crossings dot the residential city, holding up traffic (sometimes for hours) and bringing noise pollution. The GPS is finishing a line that instead snakes around the municipality through port property.
All the port's growth means nothing without workers to staff it. Lynch said the GPA is expanding its Y.E.S. program, which recruits high school graduates and trains them for skilled portside jobs, to include administrative and operational positions, as well.
Zoe covers growth and how it impacts communities in the Savannah area. Find her at znicholson@gannett.com, @zoenicholson_ on Twitter, and @zoenicholsonreporter on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: State of the Ports 2022: GPA charts course to expand capacity through 2050
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