Hurricane Matthew causes delays at Port of Savannah

Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said the Port of Savannah is quickly recovering from Hurricane Matthew, but cargo vessels are unable to reach the port until navigational aids are repaired.

   Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) officials are breathing a sigh of relief after Hurricane Matthew produced much less damage at the Port of Savannah than originally feared, but vessels will be restricted from sailing to the port until Wednesday morning, according to Executive Director Griff Lynch.

   Savannah’s inland position spared it the full brunt of storm, a Category 2 by the time it reached Savannah, and was felt more heavily 18 miles away along the coast. In addition, the storm surge was less than forecasters predicted because Matthew wobbled slightly to the east at the last minute. Heavy rain produced some localized flooding in the city.
   The wind and heavy seas knocked some buoys out of position near the entrance to the shipping channel at the mouth of the Savannah River and commercial vessel traffic cannot resume until they are back in place, Lynch said by phone.
   Lynch also said Monday the U.S. Coast Guard would be moving some buoy tenders and a cutter in place Monday evening to reposition the aids to navigation. In addition, he said the port authority tentatively expects ships to start transiting the river Wednesday morning, with ship operations at the docks commencing around 1 p.m. the same day.
   Container lines, advised of the situation, are holding some vessels offshore or rejiggering the order of port calls. In some cases, for example, box ships may reverse order and call the Port of Jacksonville first and then sail to Savannah, Lynch said.
   The massive Garden City Terminal, which was fairly unscathed, will likely work eight container ships Wednesday, he added.
   The biggest challenge was getting the labor force to work Monday to get equipment out of storage and prepare for the resumption of gate operations Tuesday morning, Lynch said. Many communities around the port were devastated by the storm, but several hundred longshoremen reported for duty.
   Officials are predicting a record 11,000 container moves through the truck gates on Tuesday as shippers pick up boxes of cargo that went uncollected for a few days. Lynch said most area trucking companies have indicated they are ready to roll Tuesday with drayage operations.
   At the Ocean Terminal, which mostly handles breakbulk cargo, warehouses and sheds were open for business as normal on Monday and only suffered some minor roof and siding damage.
   Damage was also minor at the Port of Brunswick in southern Georgia. River pilots are confident they can begin maneuvering ships in and out of the port on Tuesday, Lynch said.
   Both ports have full electricity to operate cranes and all facilities, thanks to quick work by Georgia Power.
   Lynch said the port authority is conservatively estimating damage in Savannah and Brunswick will total about $1 million. “And if that’s all it is, we’ll be very satisfied,” he said.
   Few containers stored at Savannah appear to have been damaged, but a full assessment has yet to be completed.

   It’s been a tumultuous 90 days on the job for Lynch since taking over leadership of the GPA. In addition to responding to Hurricane Matthew, his team dealt with Tropical Storm Hermine and announced a major initiative to generate more intermodal business in the Midwest.
   Other ports in the Southeast were mostly able to resume regulator operations on Monday.