SAVANNAH — The Georgia Ports Authority moved 5.7 million twenty-foot container units during the past fiscal year, an 8.6% increase over fiscal 2024, the agency reported Tuesday.
The Port of Savannah accounted for most of that growth, posting its second busiest year on record.
"Georgia ports continue to grow U.S. East Coast market share," said Griff Lynch, the authority's president and CEO. "With the shifting of trade patterns in Asia and India, that bodes well for our future."
Savannah moved 410,400 units in June, while averaging more than 475,000 units per month for all of fiscal 2025. March, April and May each came in with more than 500,000 units.
At the Port of Brunswick, volume was flat compared to fiscal 2024, an all-time record year. Brunswick handled 870,775 units of autos and heavy equipment in fiscal 2025.
The ports authority completed $470 million in projects during the last fiscal year, including eight new ship-to-shore cranes at Savannah, the largest on the East Coast, and additional warehousing and storage space at Brunswick.
The coming fiscal year will see construction of a new berth at Brunswick's Colonels Island Terminal designed to ensure future capacity keeps pace with demand. The $100 million berth is due to open in 2027.
The redevelopment of Savannah's Ocean Terminal will add 1.5 million units of annual capacity. The project will include a new overpass linking the terminal to Route 17 designed to keep terminal truck traffic away from local neighborhoods.
Future demand
Now in their 80th year of operation, Georgia's ports and inland terminals support more than 609,000 jobs throughout the state annually.
In the past decade, Georgia Ports Authority has completed $3.2 billion in port infrastructure projects. Over the next 10 years, GPA plans to invest another $4.5 billion in capacity improvements, which will see five big ship berths added in the next eight years. This future big ship berth capacity expansion represents the largest of any U.S. port. Two big ship berths are being upgraded now in the Ocean Terminal, and will be ready in 2027-2028. Three big ship berths are planned for the Savannah Container Terminal from 2030-2034.