SAVANNAH, Ga., Dec. 17, 2025 – A manufacturing boom in the Indian subcontinent and Mediterranean is driving increased demand for cotton exports shipped through Savannah.

“We want to do everything we can to ensure the competitiveness of the U.S. cotton industry in world markets. Our Savannah supply chain connectivity, affordability and timing are essential options for exporters to navigate market fluctuations,” said Georgia Ports’ Chief Commercial Officer Flavio Batista.   

The Port of Savannah is the nation’s busiest port for cotton shipments, handling 37 percent of the U.S. export market in fiscal year 2025 with nine direct weekly container services to the Indian subcontinent and eight weekly container services to the Mediterranean.

“Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal is an essential gateway for U.S. cotton each marketing year for two essential reasons,” said Michael Symonanis, strategic network director for the Louis Dreyfus Company. “Georgia is the second largest cotton producing state, so there is a natural local demand for Savannah. At the same time, GPA’s investment in the Mason Mega Rail terminal supports export demand from Midsouth states to key markets like Bangladesh, India and Turkey.  This combination continues to result in Savannah handling multiples of the U.S. cotton volume of other Southeast and Mid-Atlantic ports.”

ABOUT GEORGIA PORTS

Georgia’s Ports in Savannah and Brunswick are strategic gateways, creating the most competitive supply chains in the nation with their level of operations, connectivity and supply chain ecosystem. These attributes combined with Georgia’s ranking as the top state to do business for 12 consecutive years create a very unique business model for growth. The Port of Savannah is one of the best-connected ports in the U.S. to world markets with 35 ship calls a week, 42 doublestack trains per week and 14,000 truck gate moves daily. The Port of Brunswick is the top U.S. RoRo port for automotive and machinery logistics with over $262 million in recent upgrades and a new $100 million fourth berth being built.  GPA has a self-financed $4.5 billion investment plan for the next ten years which will see five new big ship berths added in Savannah and a fourth berth in Brunswick to meet future growth. In the past decade, GPA has invested $3.2 billion in infrastructure improvements. As part of GPA’s community engagement efforts, $6 million is being donated to port communities to support a multi-year, local workforce housing initiative. For further information, visit gaports.com or contact Chief Communications Officer Tom Boyd [email protected] 912-346-0158.