GPA approves $19.7m spending package for inland port

The intermodal center, which is scheduled to commence operations in the late summer of 2018, will enable shippers from surrounding states to more easily reach the Port of Savannah by rail instead of truck, the Georgia Ports Authority said.    The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) board on Monday approved a $19.7 million spending package to construct an inland port in northwestern Georgia.
   The port authority one year ago announced the planned development of the 42-acre facility in Chatsworth.
   The intermodal center, which will be operated by the GPA, will be adjacent to U.S. route 411, with easy access to I-75. It is scheduled to open for business in late summer 2018 with an annual capacity of 50,000 containers, and will also handle domestic cargo. Rail service will be provided by Class I railroad CSX Transportation.
   The state of Georgia will contribute $10 million to the project, with the balance provided by the GPA. In addition, CSX is making off-site improvements to facilitate the new inland port. Murray County purchased the land at a cost of $700,000 and deeded the site to GPA. For the land purchase, $500,000 came from a state economic development grant and $200,000 from the Murray County Economic Development Authority.
   “The Appalachian Regional Port (ARP) will create a new gateway to the Port of Savannah for our customers serving Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and beyond. We estimate the ARP will offset more than 350 truck miles per container, or close to 18 million miles every year,” GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said in a statement.
   The new inland terminal is the second for the GPA and part of the “Network Georgia” program designed to create inland terminals throughout the state to reduce intermodal truck traffic and extend the Port of Savannah’s rail reach to other states.
   The board also approved $4.3 million to upgrade electrical power for the Port of Savannah’s new super post-Panamax cranes. Eight ship-to-shore cranes are on order for installation by the end of next year.
   In related news, container volumes dropped 12.4 percent in June to 288,364 TEUs from June 2015, representing the first June in 13 years, except for the recession year of 2009, that container throughput did not increase. The Port of Savannah  handled 1.79 million containers through the first half of the year, down 3.4 percent (127,908 TEUs) from the same period a year ago.
   For the fiscal year ending June 30, Savannah processed 3.6 million standard shipping units. It was the second straight year that fiscal year TEU volumes topped 3.6 million. However, a slowdown in global trade, the strong dollar and resolution of West Coast port problems that led shippers in 2014-2015 to divert cargo to East Coast and Gulf ports has impacted business at ports like Savannah.
   The GPA estimates that 24 percent of the approximately 320,000 TEUs diverted to the Port of Savannah over fiscal year 2015, or more than 75,000 TEUs, was retained by Savannah.