Brunswick, Ga. – March 26, 2018 – Georgia’s ports support 439,220 full- and part-time jobs across the state, according to a study released by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at UGA’s Terry College of Business. 

The Georgia Ports Authority board reviewed the study’s findings at its meeting Monday. The latest figure is based on Fiscal Year 2017 impacts, and represents an increase of 70,000 jobs (up 19 percent) compared to the previous report covering FY2014. Georgia ports now account for 9 percent of total state employment, or one out of 11 jobs. Personal income derived from port-supported jobs totaled $25 billion statewide in FY2017. 

The first of Georgia Ports Authority’s four new Neo-Panamax cranes came online this week, bringing GPA’s operating fleet to 27 — more than any other single terminal in the nation. The super-sized crane is tall enough to lift containers 152 feet above the dock. The crane started work before dawn Wednesday on a 13,300 twenty-foot equivalent container unit Hapag Lloyd vessel. Crane operators moved an estimated 2,700 containers on and off the ship during its time at the Port of Savannah.

Gov. Nathan Deal today announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed outer harbor dredging at the Port of Savannah, marking the midpoint of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP).

At the 50^th annual Georgia Foreign Trade Conference Monday, GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch reviewed the strategic plan for Georgia's ports that will allow for 10 million twenty-foot equivalent container units, 1 million rail lifts, and more than 1 million auto and machinery units per year.

The Port of Savannah handled more than 4 million twenty-foot equivalent container units in 2017 – an increase of 11 percent and the port’s highest annual volume ever. For the month of December, GPA handled 323,000 TEUs, up 10.6 percent or 31,000 TEUs, for the busiest December in GPA’s history.