The Georgia Ports Authority this week announced the approval of construction of seven additional refrigerated container racks at the Port of Savannah.
“Expansion among our cold storage partners in the Savannah market will drive greater volumes of chilled cargo crossing our docks,” GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said. “While the Port of Savannah already accommodates the most refrigerated containers on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, enhancing our on-terminal capacity will better support the jobs and opportunity sparked by private investment.”
With private chilled and frozen warehouse space in Savannah set to grow by 11 percent in 2023 to more than 2.2 million square feet, the Port of Savannah is set to keep up its refrigerated capacity to move product. The GPA board’s approval of seven additional refrigerated container racks at the port, a project worth $6.2 million, will grow the number of slots for cold cargo to 3,506 at the Garden City Terminal (including chassis plug-ins). The port’s Ocean Terminal provides another 368 refrigerated container plugs.
“Serving the U.S. Southeast via Savannah reduces overland transportation costs to vital markets such as Atlanta, and ensures perishable goods reach customers faster and fresher,” GPA Board Chairman Joel Wooten said. “The growing population of our region, combined with expansions in port and private infrastructure are strengthening Savannah’s position as a perishable supply chain gateway.”
In addition to refrigerated container racks, four new ship-to-shore cranes are set to arrive at the port on February 9, which will be able to service vessels with a capacity of 20,000+ twenty-foot equivalent container units. Combined with berth improvements to Container Berth 1 at the Garden City Terminal, which is currently under renovation, the port will then be able to serve seven ships simultaneously, according to Feedstuffs.
