GEORGIA Ports Authority has unveiled a plan to increase container capacity at the Port of Savannah by 60 per cent, from the current 6 million TEU to 9.5 million TEU by 2025, reports New York's FreightWaves.

A number of projects are already underway to reach this goal, port officials said. About 400,000 TEU of capacity was just added at the Garden City Terminal, which will add an additional 820,000 by June, while a new upriver container yard will yield another 500,000 TEU in capacity. These projects will add 1.72 million TEU in four months. Also, the Garden City Terminal West project will bring in up to 1 million TEU by 2024.

The capacity expansion comes as vessel operators and their customers seek alternatives to the West Coast ports, which have become congested over the past year amid strong consumer demand and equipment and labour shortages brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) noted earlier that the Port of Savannah has seen 18 consecutive months of growth, moving a record 5.6 million TEU in 2021, a 20 per cent increase from 2020.

"Our expansion is being matched by incredible growth in both warehouse space and workforce," GPA executive director Griff Lynch said in a statement marking the port authority's report citing 2021 highlights. "The public and private investment that we're seeing, as well as the number of people being drawn to the business, make Savannah the hottest market in the country for transportation and logistics."

Among GPA's highlights for 2021 were six new pop-up container yards, which added 500,000 TEU of annual container space, as well as 1,200 new drivers and 370 trucking companies serving the Garden City Terminal.

The Port of Savannah also anticipates a number of physical enhancements, including a "super-sizing" of Berth 1, which will increase on-dock capacity by 25 per cent and expand berth capacity by an estimated 1.5 million TEU. Meanwhile, the Savannah Harbour expansion project, coming online in March, will deepen the river channel and allow vessels with a capacity of 16,000 TEU or more to enter the channel.

These improvements come as the Savannah market added 6.5 million square feet of industrial space in 2021, upping that total to 84 million, according to GPA, quoting Colliers International.