SAVANNAH ― Georgia’s Savannah port emerged last year as the fastest-growing on the East Coast, state ports officials announced at its annual gala Tuesday.
Leaning into that continued growth, ports officials again vouched for a deepening of the Savannah River channel to handle ever-larger cargo vessels.
But tariffs and the risk of a larger trade war could present a challenge to Savannah’s continued growth. A key union vote is underway, meanwhile, hanging like a storm cloud over all East Coast ports.
Container volumes at Garden City Terminal grew 12.5% year over year, outpacing New York-New Jersey and Norfolk, Virginia. The New York-New Jersey port, the East Coast’s busiest overall, increased volume by 11.4% while the Virginia terminals grew by 7.2%. One Gulf Coast port, Houston, saw 8.2% growth.
Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Savannah’s geographic rival, the Port of Charleston, experienced a less than 1% bump although the South Carolina Ports Authority opened a second container terminal in September. The two ports compete for Southeast business, with Savannah handling 3.1 million more container units in 2024 than Charleston.
“Savannah is clearly the gateway port for the U.S. Southeast,” Georgia Ports Authority President and GEO Griff Lynch said to a packed house at the authority’s State of the Ports event. “We see this pattern only continuing to accelerate.”
Since October 2023, Lynch and other ports officials have pushed for a new round of deepening to help Savannah handle bigger vessels. This comes just a few years after the last round of dredging.
“Everyone knows the Port of Savannah is a major gateway for the U.S.,” he said. “My hope is that translates into ... a seven- to nine-year program to deepen the river by 5 feet so we can handle the largest vessels and implement passing lanes.”
Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Union vote
Savannah’s strong year was due in part to a labor dispute with dockworkers, represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association, or ILA. The six-year contract expired in October, and shippers moved higher-than-normal cargo volumes into the port ahead of the deadline.
Dockworkers went on strike for four days before the union reached a preliminary labor deal, which was to be completed by Jan. 15. Shippers again accelerated cargo movement into the port ahead of that date, a process known as front-loading. Savannah handled 2.8 million container units between July 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024, an 11.4% increase over the second half of 2023.
Local votes to ratify that preliminary labor deal were scheduled to take place throughout the day Tuesday and approval would effectively table the labor dispute until the end of September 2030. ILA President Harold Daggett urged members to vote to ratify.
Willie Seymore, an executive vice president of the ILA for the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast District, represents the 1,600-member union that handles cargo at the Savannah docks. He said local members voted overwhelmingly to approve it.
“I started on the docks here in 1976 — when there were seven cranes, not 40 like today — and never before have I seen a labor agreement of this magnitude,” he said. “This is a historically significant moment for the dockworkers. This is a historically significant contract that addresses everything from automation to wages and compensation ... everything.”
Growth projects
Georgia’s ports are huge economic drivers. The Port of Savannah and other ports authority facilities support 609,000 jobs and contribute $171 billion in sales activity annually in the state, a 2024 study showed. The ports’ business has nearly doubled over the last decade, and officials have announced $4.1 billion worth of expansions that will boost container capacity to 12.5 million units by 2035.
Credit: courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Credit: courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
One of those projects, a retrofit of Ocean Terminal located just upriver from the downtown waterfront, has progressed to where the Georgia Ports will use its docks as lay berths for ships while the onshore renovation continues. Staging vessels at Ocean Terminal rather than at an offshore location 33 miles from the Garden City docks cuts the time between ship visits from 12 hours to three hours.
The first of Ocean Terminal’s lay berths opened Tuesday and another becomes available in 2026. Ocean Terminal is to reopen as a container-only terminal in 2027.
A third container terminal, to be built across the Savannah River from Ocean Terminal on Hutchinson Island, is to open by 2030. The facility will add three more berths. At full buildout, the three terminals together will accommodate 12 vessels at once, five more than the current capacity.
Credit: courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
Credit: courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority
As the ports grow, so does Georgia’s trade exposure. For the fourth straight year, the state set records for imports and exports, making businesses more vulnerable if President Donald Trump’s tariffs escalate into full-scale trade wars.
Canada, Mexico and China — three countries Trump has threatened or already levied tariffs against — rank among Georgia’s largest export and import markets. Tariffs implemented by the U.S. are expected to increase the price of foreign supplies and finished goods, while retaliatory measures from other countries could hit American exports.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll last month found 49% of respondents were somewhat or strongly opposed to Trump’s proposed tariffs, compared to 42% who strongly or somewhat support Trump’s plans. About two-thirds of those polled believed new taxes on imports will raise costs.
Lynch didn’t mention tariffs during his State of the Ports speech. He told the AJC after the event that the ports authority is having discussions with its customers to navigate potential impacts to shipping demand.
“They don’t see it right now having a major impact on their business,” Lynch said. “For us (at the ports authority), we’re continuing forward with our plan. We’re not stopping, and we’re going to move forward.”
Savannah’s growth is not a byproduct tied exclusively to its docks. An on-terminal rail yard known as the Mason Mega Rail handled 540,850 container units, or nearly 18% of all cargo, in 2024. The facility, which opened in 2020 and became fully operational in late-2021, saw 5.7% growth.
The trend is expected to continue as the Ports Authority constructs an inland rail port near Gainesville. Known as the Blue Ridge Connector, the facility is set to open next year with the capacity to handle 200,000 containers annually, cargo that would otherwise move to Savannah or other Southeast ports by truck.
A similar rail transfer facility, the Appalachian Regional Port near Crandall in northwest Georgia, opened in 2018 and handled 37,840 rail lifts in 2024, up 8.3% year over year.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a figure related to containers shipped via train.
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