The Port of Savannah is the United State’s busiest port in terms of local goods. According to a statement issued this week, the port handled 110,305 TEU of exports in January, achieving a growth of 21%.
“We’re excited to support a strong month for American farms and factories at the Port of Savannah,” said Griff Lynch, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA). “We achieved particularly robust growth last month in export trade lanes to Europe and the Mediterranean.”
While exports are up at the port, January's total cargo dipped 11.5% year-on-year. The port attributes this decrease to reduced retail and manufacturing orders, which consequently decreased import volumes by over 39,000 TEUs.
“Weather also played a role, delaying six vessels slated to call Savannah in late January to the next month,” added the port statement.
The volume slowdown pushed the GPA to suspend evening truck hours at the port, reports the US-based shipping news agency Journal of Commerce (JOC). The GPA has also stopped using several inland pop-up storage yards due to the drop in volumes.
According to JOC, “starting Monday, Savannah’s gates will operate between 4 am to 6 pm during the week; it’s also open from 8 am to 5 pm on Saturdays.”
It is typical for volumes to drop in January, says analysts, but the volumes last month dropped lower than the historical average.
The port’s statement highlighted that the GPA “is using the current reduction in traffic to make significant progress on infrastructure projects that will be needed as demand returns.”
