GPA Grows Market Share and Container Capacity

Doug Marchand, Executive Director of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), announced at a meeting of the Board of the Directors today that the Port of Savannah had attained another month of impressive container growth. "GPA is simultaneously gaining market share while growing container capacity," said Marchand. "While April results represent a 36.6 percent increase in TEUs over last year, even more impressive is that we have sustained record growth all year long." GPA's April results show that 129,040 TEUs were moved through the Port of Savannah, a 36.6 percent increase, or 34,569 more TEUs than April of last year. Records also show that for the first ten months of Fiscal Year 2003 (July-April), 1,259,518 TEUs were moved through the Port of Savannah, a 33.5 percent increase, or 316,177 more TEUs than at this time last year. "This is a tribute to our loyal customers, the hard work of our entire staff, and the support we continue to receive from local, state and federal governments," said Marchand. "GPA is fortunate to have such committed partners who clearly understand that when Georgia's ports grow so does employment in the shipping, transportation and distribution sectors." In an ongoing effort to accommodate new cargo growth, the GPA Board of Directors authorized $11 million in upgrades to Container Berth 3, part of a five-year, $33-million program that will increase the number of containers the Garden City Terminal can handle on existing acreage. "I am proud to announce today that the Georgia Ports Authority has approved plans that will allow us to continue the conversion of the Garden City Terminal from a chassis to a stacking operation," said Marchand. "The combination of new equipment purchases and our container berth upgrade program will greatly increase our container capacity."