Savannah, Ga. – March 27, 2018 – The Georgia Ports Authority broke ground on its $126.7 million Mason Mega Rail Terminal Tuesday. The expansion will increase the Port of Savannah’s rail lift capacity to 1 million containers per year, and open new markets spanning an arc of cities from Memphis to St. Louis, Chicago to Cincinnati. 

“Today is a great day for Georgia and the nation,” said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. “Not only will this new intermodal facility take trucks off the road and bring our products to market with greater efficiency, but it will open a new corridor for American commerce to and from the Midwest.”

Brunswick, Ga. – March 26, 2018 – Georgia’s ports support 439,220 full- and part-time jobs across the state, according to a study released by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at UGA’s Terry College of Business. 

The Georgia Ports Authority board reviewed the study’s findings at its meeting Monday. The latest figure is based on Fiscal Year 2017 impacts, and represents an increase of 70,000 jobs (up 19 percent) compared to the previous report covering FY2014. Georgia ports now account for 9 percent of total state employment, or one out of 11 jobs. Personal income derived from port-supported jobs totaled $25 billion statewide in FY2017. 

The first of Georgia Ports Authority’s four new Neo-Panamax cranes came online this week, bringing GPA’s operating fleet to 27 — more than any other single terminal in the nation. The super-sized crane is tall enough to lift containers 152 feet above the dock. The crane started work before dawn Wednesday on a 13,300 twenty-foot equivalent container unit Hapag Lloyd vessel. Crane operators moved an estimated 2,700 containers on and off the ship during its time at the Port of Savannah.

Gov. Nathan Deal today announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed outer harbor dredging at the Port of Savannah, marking the midpoint of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP).