Untying the knots in the Georgia supply chain means unraveling snarls at the Port of Savannah.
And that depends partly on using a railway yard in the Reynoldstown neighborhood of Atlanta to store cargo.
That use of Hulsey Yard, one of four inland “pop-up” ports, has helped undo logjams more than 200 miles away at one of the nation’s largest seaports.
But it also has heightened concerns among some nearby neighbors in Atlanta who were already grappling with growing noise and traffic.
The containers at Hulsey came off ships at the port and were carried to Atlanta by rail, easing congestion at the sea terminal that has been slowing the delivery of goods to retailers, businesses and consumers.
“The idea is to create more terminal capacity,” said Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority. “This will hold cargo that would otherwise sit, clogging up the port.”
The authority thinks this is a short-term tactic, signing a three-month lease for 15 of the 70 acres at the intown railyard owned by CSX.
The Hulsey pop-up site opened Dec. 7, one of four such inland ports being used to store 20-foot containers. None of the sites are huge, but together they make a big difference, Lynch said. “Not just moving them out of the port, but moving them closer to retailers. It also means fewer trucks on Rte. 16.”
It also means more trucks in Reynoldstown.
Hulsey has been the site of rail and truck operations for a long time, but by 2019, CSX cleared most of its freight operations from there. That sparked hope from residents who laid out a vision for how the property might be redeveloped should the railroad sell the property, which also runs along the popular Beltline trail.
But CSX added new operations there instead. Adam Dudenhoeffer, a local contractor who lives in Reynoldstown, said over the last year or so the sound became intolerable. “It’s like a giant leaf blower going on outside of your house 100% of the day.”
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
As complaints about Hulsey grew, CSX officials promised attempts to muffle the sounds. That was before the port of Savannah launched fresh operations at the site.
“We look to continue to leverage existing infrastructure to provide solutions to alleviate nationwide supply chain challenges, on an ongoing and long-term basis,” a CSX spokesperson wrote in an email Monday. “CSX remains committed to working responsibly with our neighbors in the surrounding community as we continue to meet increasing customer demands.”
Neighbors already were frustrated about truck traffic in the area, said Nicole Seekely, an architect who lives nearby and hopes the inland port won’t be needed for long. Yet she welcomes solutions to global supply chain troubles. Renovation work on her home was delayed for months because of problems getting needed materials.
Shirley Hughes, who lives in neighboring Cabbagetown and owns Sweet Cheats, a bakery and coffeehouse a block from Hulsey, said she has heard a bit more truck noise, but she’s not moving. “The neighborhood is way too precious for me to do that.”
Like Seekely, she doesn’t want to go all NIMBY, or not in my backyard, when it comes to the pop-up port.
Hughes also figures she could benefit from supply chain relief. She spent days recently trying to get more coffee lids.
“That is not a good thing when you serve coffee all day,” she said. “I think we were literally down to our last three lids when we finally found a box.”
Port officials also are hiring more workers and are running the terminal around-the-clock in Savannah. Steady improvement has been made, Lynch said.
Early in the fall, more than 30 ships were queued up in the harbor waiting to unload. That line was down to six ships at the end of last week.
The backups were even worse on shore, where nearly 90,000 containers were stacked in anticipation of rail or truck transport. That has been cut by nearly one-third, Lynch said.
Hulsey currently holds about 350 containers. All the pop-ups together account for several thousand containers.
