The Georgia Ports Authority saw its busiest February for total cargo, moving 2.94 million tons across all docks in February, up 10% from the same month in 2016, and second all-time only to January's 3.01 million tons.
Container tonnage grew by 14.4% to more than 2.5 million tons, as twenty-foot equivalent units expanded by 7.7% to 330,539 TEUs.
Savannah's Ocean Terminal saw a 9.2% gain in breakbulk cargo, led by linerboard, iron and steel, and autos.
This week Garden City Terminal in Savannah will commission a new Neo-Panamax ship-to-shore crane, with three more set to come online by mid-April. A separate, $45.3-million order will bring four more cranes to the terminal in 2018, for a total of 30.
These cranes will serve the larger vessels transiting the Panama Canal. In the six months prior to the late June 2016 opening of the expanded Panama Canal, Garden City Terminal had hosted no vessels with a capacity of 10,000 or more TEUs. From July through December 2016, the Port of Savannah received 31 calls from vessels of 10,000 TEUs or larger.