Georgia Ports Authority Seeks Island Terminal
The Port of Savannah is making plans to expand – by putting a terminal on a 2,000-acre island in the middle of the Savannah River. Hutchinson Island already houses the Savannah Convention Center, a Westin Hotel and a golf course. The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has requested a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to build three berths for freighters in an area that’s upriver from the convention center and hotel.
The GPA has been planning the expansion for a while. It bought 175 acres on the island, which is just across the river from the Ocean Terminal, in 2007. The move would increase the port’s capacity by 3 million containers a year. Construction would begin in 2026 with an anticipated opening of the new terminal in 2030.
The announcement comes on the heels of another big expansion – the demolition and reconstruction of Container Berth 1 at the Garden City terminal, which increased capacity by 1.5 million containers. That berth reopened in July. And just last year, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a decades-long project to deepen the Savannah River channel to 47 feet in order to accommodate larger ships in the port.
These improvements not only boost the local economy, but the state’s economy as a whole. A University of Georgia study finds the ports in Savannah and Brunswick support 561,000 jobs in the state. For more information about all the growth and activity happening at the ports, check out Mary Ann DeMuth’s article, Action Oriented.
