SAVANNAH — A $1.1 trillion spending bill approved by Congress includes a small amount of money to help begin deepening the Port of Savannah's shipping channel, and Georgia officials said they're confident more federal funding will follow once the $706 million project gets underway. The budget measure sent to the White House over the weekend included $1.5 million in construction funding for the harbor expansion, which is expected to get started in early 2015 after more than 15 years of studies, lawsuits and bureaucratic delays. Savannah, which has the nation's fourth-busiest container port, is racing for deeper water to make room for larger cargo ships expected to begin arriving in 2016 via an expanded Panama Canal.
Budget bill passed by Congress has $1.5M for Savannah harbor