Port of Brunswick adds auto capacity

Georgia Ports Authority has developed another 100 acres on the south end of the port for auto processing companies to store vehicles.

   A 100-acre expansion of the auto terminal on Colonel Island by May is part of a long-term plan to increase capacity and meet future transport needs of vehicle manufacturers, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) said Wednesday.

   “The additional 100 acres will allow GPA to grow along with our existing customers, and to attract additional carmakers to the nation’s second busiest auto port,” Executive Director Griff Lynch said in the annual “State of the Port” address, according to a summary of his remarks.
   “This new roll-on/roll-off capacity is part of an initiative to service a growing market, while staying 20 percent ahead of our current demand.”
   Twenty of the 100 acres are paved and in use by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, while International Auto Processing has leased another 49 acres it will occupy by May. Last month, the GPA board of directors approved the development of a separate 30-acre parcel, which is expected to be ready for use in January.
   The long-term plan for Colonel’s Island’s south side, detailed at today’s State of the Port, will eventually add 540 acres in GPA-owned land to the auto processing operation. Another 140 acres owned by Mercedes and International Auto Processing brings Brunswick’s total vehicle space to 1,039 acres. Last year, the port authority board approved capital expenditures of $152 million over 10 years to upgrade infrastructure in Brunswick.
   “No other autoport in the nation even approaches that capacity,” Lynch said. Brunswick has an 11.9 percent compound annual rate growth for rolling stock over the past decade, the fastest of any autoport in the United States. In fiscal year 2016, ended June 30, Brunswick handled 621,934 units and another 41,323 units moved via the Ocean Terminal at the Port of Savannah.
   More than 30 auto and heavy equipment manufacturers move their products through Brunswick. New auto plants in the Southeast have boosted exports through Brunswick and the port is receiving more car carriers with autos from Mexico as manufacturers ramp up production in that country.
   The port director also announced that Logistec, an international terminal operating company, has opened two new warehouses totaling 221,675 square feet for wood pellet storage at the East River Terminal. The modern facilities are expected to handle more than 600,000 tons of wood pellets per year.
   Wood pellets are growing business for ports like Brunswick and Charleston, S.C., driven by demand from northern Europe as a fuel for energy production. The pellets are mainly sourced from Georgia’s forestry industry.
   Lynch also reported that in the past fiscal year, the port authority completed an 8,700-foot rail expansion at Anguilla Junction, for a total of 39,000 feet of track. The added track will provide greater flexibility and storage capacity to build longer trains carrying exponentially more cargo.

   Read more about the Port of Brunswick and its growth potential for roll-on/roll off and breakbulk cargo in the December 2015 magazine feature, “Georgia’s other port.”