Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) Executive Director Griff Lynch on Thursday detailed fiscal year 2018 successes, including 630,000 units of cars, trucks and tractors handled through Georgia terminals.
“The Port of Brunswick achieved a solid performance across all cargo categories over the last fiscal year,” Lynch said. “As GPA adds new terminal space, we will expand our service area in the Southeast and beyond.”
During his Brunswick State of the Port address Thursday, Lynch outlined a series of infrastructure projects that will increase capacity and provide new opportunities in roll-on/roll-off cargo handling. Over the next 12 months, GPA will add 60 dockside acres to the ro/ro operation. The new space will increase car storage by 8,250 spaces.
GPA also plans to add a new cross-terminal road linking the three vessel berths, as well as a new access road between the docks and the island's south side. These improvements will offer a more direct route to existing auto processing lots and new development on the south end of the terminal, Lynch said.
Dockside expansion also will double GPA’s rail capacity and give Brunswick the ability to build up 10,000-foot-long unit trains on terminal. This will allow the Port of Brunswick to expand service in markets west of the Mississippi River. Vehicles crossing the Brunswick docks already are moving west in significant numbers, with 16,000 units sent to California from Brunswick and more than 4,500 to Texas during FY 18.
By 2019, the GPA will have added 250 acres for a total of 550 acres of leasable space for auto processing at Colonel’s Island Terminal. Current annual capacity in Brunswick is more than 800,000 units. GPA’s plan is to utilize an additional 400 acres to bring annual throughput capacity to 1.5 million vehicles in the coming years.
“By tonnage, Brunswick is already the second busiest Ro/Ro port in the nation, behind only Baltimore,” Lynch said. “As business grows to fill our expanding terminal, the Port of Brunswick will play an even larger role on the global trade in vehicles and heavy equipment.”
Lynch also reported that forest products crossing the docks at Mayor’s Point Terminal in Brunswick increased by 34.5 percent in FY 18, up 35,953 tons for a total of 138,653 tons. Bulk cargo handled by terminal operator Logistec at East River Terminal totaled 1 million tons in the fiscal year ended in June, up 11 percent or 101,000 tons. Of GPA’s total ro-ro trade, Brunswick moved more than 590,500 units or 1.25 million tons and flat growth for the fiscal year.
A summary of Lynch’s presentation may be found here.