In February, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) handled 479,850 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), marking a 6% increase over the same month in 2023. This represents the busiest February on record for the GPA.
The Port of Savannah's Mason Mega Rail Terminal recorded 2,246 rail lifts on February 28, the most completed in a single day. The terminal operates six trains daily. The container dwell time between vessel offloading and rail departure averaged between 19 and 24 hours.
Garden City Terminal also reached a new high in weekly truck gate moves, with 78,950 transactions in the last week of February. Dual container moves—where truck drivers deliver an export and pick up an import—accounted for 85% of activity. Average on-terminal times were 35 minutes for single containers and 54 minutes for dual moves. On March 11, the terminal set a single-day truck gate record of 16,430 transactions.
© Port of Georgia
To reduce vessel idle time, Gateway Terminals and the local International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) agreed to expand the number of daily start times for vessel work to eight, adding new shifts at 6 a.m., 3 p.m., and 9 p.m. The Port of Savannah, which averages 35 vessels weekly, is expected to benefit from this schedule adjustment.
Additional capacity is being developed through a new lay berth at Ocean Terminal, scheduled to begin use in May. The berth will stage vessels, reducing the transition time between ship arrivals and departures. The time a berth remains open and unused is expected to fall from 12 hours to 3 hours. This could enable the port to handle up to 100 additional vessels per year. A second lay berth is expected to be operational by mid-2026.
At the Port of Brunswick, 61,667 units of autos and heavy equipment were moved in February, a 10% decrease compared to the same month in 2023. Colonel's Island Terminal handled 42 vessel calls during the month, down from 45 the previous year.
For more information:
Georgia Ports Authority
Tel: +1 912 964 3811
Email: csv@gaports.com
www.gaports.com