When strolling, dining or shopping on Savannah’s historic River Street, you may have seen large barges float by.
These massive vessels crawl by, while onlookers watch in awe. But what are in those container ships, and where are they going, you ask? They are headed either out to the Atlantic, or inland towards the Port of Savannah. And, the port’s top import commodities include furniture, retail consumer goods, machinery, appliances, and electronics.
As of 2021, the Port of Savannah is the fourth busiest seaport in the United States.
Its facilities for oceangoing vessels line both sides of the Savannah River and are approximately 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Operated by the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), the Port of Savannah competes primarily with the Port of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina to the northeast, and the Port of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida to the south. It is one of three ports linked by rail to the Gulf of Mexico.
The port continuously sees increases in trade and traffic.
Between 2000 and 2005 alone, the Port of Savannah was the fastest-growing seaport in the United States. Its compounded annual growth rate was 16.5 percent (the national average is 9.7 percent). On July 30, 2007, the GPA announced that the Port of Savannah had a record year in fiscal 2007, becoming the fourth-busiest and fastest-growing container terminal in the U.S. As of 2021, the port was third busiest seaport in the United States. In the past five years, the port’s container traffic has jumped 55 percent from 1.5 million TEU handled in fiscal 2003 to 2.3 million TEU in fiscal 2007. By 2014, container traffic was up to 3 million TEU. In 2018, the Port handled a record 4.35 million TEU, a 7.5 percent increase over 2017.
On April 10, 2007, Maersk Line reported that the line has added the Port of Savannah to its MECL2 service. Maersk Line is a Danish international container shipping company. Founded in 1928, it is the world’s largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity. With the addition, Maersk Line now has five services calling on the Port of Savannah. The MECL2 increased Savannah’s trade with India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. In 2006, Maersk Line and the GPA signed a twenty-year agreement, making Savannah one of its primary ports of call in the South Atlantic.
In response to the growth in traffic at both Savannah and the Port of Charleston, the Jasper Ocean Terminal, which would be the largest port in the country if it is completed, is planned to be built upriver on the Savannah River by the mid 2020s.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/.