The Georgia Ports Authority hosted its 56th annual Georgia International Trade Conference, bringing together over 400 customers, business partners, and industry leaders to discuss the latest developments in maritime and logistics.

President and CEO Griff Lynch presented the timeline of GPA’s development over 80 years, which has seen a 784% growth in container volume to 5.6 million TEU since 1995, and highlighted how the new lay berth option at Ocean Terminal in the Port of Savannah will serve as a differentiator. 

Next month, the new 1650’ lay berth will enable vessels to enter the port and tie up alongside before proceeding to Garden City Terminal during heavy traffic times.

“Two years ago, we embarked on a program to add more container capacity for the future by transforming Ocean Terminal from a three small ship berth for containers, RoRo, and bulk cargo into a two large ship container berth,” stated Lynch.

Vessels carrying RoRo and bulk cargo have relocated 90 minutes south to the Port of Brunswick, allowing the Port of Savannah to become a 100% container facility.  

“We knew there might be some growing pains, but we’ve turned the corner now and our operations are getting back to their full potential as Ocean Terminal will continue to provide more capacity in phases,” Lynch said. 

GPA financed Ocean Terminal’s $1.6bn capital improvement project through the issuance of bonds, taking advantage of favorable conditions in 2020 -2022.  

GPA holds the highest bond rating of any Southeastern port, reflecting the confidence of financial markets in GPA’s future and growth strategy.  

“Ocean Terminal plays a strategic role in our future vision,” said GPA Chairman Kent Fountain. “We’re pleased to see the engineering and construction progress, especially the lay berth capabilities that will come online next month.”  

The potential effects of proposed tariffs were also discussed at the conference. GPA is in discussions with customers to address changing market conditions and the use of Garden City Terminal West in the Port of Savannah as a strategic on-terminal storage location for customers who want to flex supply chain speeds to market conditions.

The $200 million, 100-acre facility was opened in 2024, adding storage space for 20,000 containers. In the Port of Brunswick, 215 acres of new, on-terminal land parcels and storage sites were added, along with ample space for additional future storage needs.   

Lynch also updated the audience on how the Port of Savannah has addressed vessel backlogs. Vessel operations have now overcome challenges caused by weather events, including an unusual Savannah snowstorm in late January, as well as river closures due to fog in February.

The ongoing improvements at Ocean Terminal in Savannah have enabled berth space at Garden City Terminal to be freed up, resulting in two weekly services returning to Ocean Terminal, effective May 1, bringing the total to four ship calls per week at Ocean Terminal.

The Port of Savannah was the fastest-growing port on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts in 2024, with a throughput of 5.6 million TEU.

This year, in February and March, GPA experienced record volumes in Savannah.  Savannah averages 32-33 ship calls a week, generating 42 double-stack trains per week to inland markets with the industry’s best rail dwell times on port, averaging just 22 hours in March 2025.

“Customers are bringing new business to Georgia because of our world-class service, facilities, and speed at the port,” Lynch said.  

Garden City Terminal handles 14,000-16,000 truck gate moves per day. Drivers moving a single container can be on and off the port in an average of 35 minutes. Dual export-import truck moves take only 57 minutes on average. Garden City Terminals' gates are open from 04:00 hours to 18:00 hours, enabling many truckers to perform 6-8 port visits a day for trucking imports and exports to local distribution centers, which is a financial differentiator for inventory levels and supply chain velocity.

Other trends discussed were the acceleration of source shifting in overseas markets which included an example of how GPA is uniquely situated and qualified to accommodate trade growth between India and the U.S. India to Savannah transits are 10-14 days faster via the Suez Canal and 3-5 days taster via the Cape of Good Hope than India to U.S. West Coast routings. Other trends mentioned were the U.S. population shift to the South, with Georgia being one of the fast-growing states, and the manufacturing shift to the Southeast U.S., where Georgia is a pacesetter.

Lynch also illustrated how GPA is well-positioned for the future, with the current container terminal capacity of 5.6 million TEU in Savannah, set to increase to 7.5 million TEU by 2030 and 9 million TEU by 2035. Specific highlights are:

Savannah:  Garden City Terminal

Ship berths

2025: 7 container berths

2030+: 12 container berths (100% increase)

Yard capacity 

2025: 105,000 containers in 2025

2030+: 190,000 (80% increase)

Truck lanes

2025: 53

2030+: 100 lanes (72% increase)

Ondock rail

2025: 10x 10,000’ trains

2030+: 15 x 10,000’ trains (50% increase)

Savannah harbor improvements: Deepening by 5’ and creation of passing zones for ships.

Talmadge Bridge (over the Savannah River): Raising height above the main channel—a partnership with the Georgia Dept. of Transportation, completion date 2029.

Savannah: Ocean Terminal berth capacity

2025:  1 lay berth, serving 1.5 big ships per week (15% increase)

2026: 2 lay berths, serving 3 big ships per week (30% increase)

2027:  1 lay berth, 1 working berth, serving 4.5 big ships per week (45% increase)

2028: 2 working berths, serving 6 big ships per week (60% increase)

Savannah Container Terminal

2030+:  3 big ship berths

Brunswick: Colonel’s Island

2027: Fourth berth opens for RoRo ships.

2030: Rail expansion to 600,000 units per year.