The Port of Savannah kicked off 2024 with a modest gain in container shipments, moving 428,000 twenty-foot equivalent units in January, a 1.5% year-over-year (y/y) increase from the same month last year.
The port ended calendar-year 2023 with a total of 4.9 million TEUs, a decrease of 16% compared to 2022.
Higher inflation rates and interest rates slowed consumer spending, resulting in higher inventories in warehouses, according to officials for the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA).
“With the new year, we are beginning to see renewed strength in container volumes, which should result in more favorable comparisons moving forward the next six months,” Griff Lynch, CEO of the GPA, said in a news release.
Cargo moved by rail at the Port of Savannah reached 47,132 containers in January, a 27% y/y increase. Officials for GPA attributed gains in rail cargo movements to the completion of the $220 million Mason Mega Rail last year.
The project provides 24 miles of on-terminal track on 90 acres next to the port’s Garden City Terminal.
“The investments we’ve made in rail capacity have not only increased the number of containers the Port of Savannah can handle each year, but extended our reach to new markets that can be served effectively by Garden City Terminal,” Lynch said.
At GPA’s Port of Brunswick, the Colonel’s Island Terminal handled 65,400 units of roll-on, roll-off cargo in January, compared to 57,127 units during the same period last year.
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