Savannah picks up Toyota export business

Port to handle SUV shipments to Oceania.    Toyota has begun exporting Highlander SUVs from its Princeton, Ind., plant to Australia and New Zealand through the Port of Savannah, the Georgia Ports Authority said Tuesday.
   The shipments double Toyota’s exports of finished vehicles from Georgia ports. The Japanese carmaker began exporting Venza crossovers via the Port of Brunswick to Eastern Europe 18 months ago.
   Toyota will move thousands of Highlanders each year through Savannah’s Ocean Terminal. The right-hand drive version of the SUV is known as the Kluger in Australia.
   Ocean Terminal is configured to handle breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off cargo. During fiscal year 2014, ended June 30, GPA terminals moved more than 700,000 cars, trucks and tractors.
   Cars are being transported to Savannah by Norfolk Southern railroad, prepped and loaded by a subsidiary of Wallanius Wilhelmson Logistics and carried by WWL ships to Oceania.
   Coordinating vessel schedules, auto processing, direct rail service and other requirements required great collaboration by all parties, according to Corinne Akahoshi, Toyota’s national manager of marine logistics operations.
   The Georgia Ports Authority recently paved an additional five acres at Ocean Terminal, bringing the total parking area for vehicles to 40 acres. Four to 10 acres will be devoted to Toyota staging, depending on shipping schedules. Undercoating will be conducted at a temporary facility until a permanent structure is built. In addition, Toyota plans to build an on-terminal car wash by early 2015, the GPA said.