Savannah Port plans to add 3 million TEU in annual capacity by 2026 through two major projects. The first project, which consists of expanding the port’s Garden City Terminal, will add 1.5 million TEU in capacity by the end of this year. In addition, Georgia Port Authority (GPA) intends to open an expanded separate terminal for the second project, expected to start in January 2025.

With an investment of nearly $1.4 billion, the developments at the port would increase the annual capacity by 50% to 9 million TEU, reports the Journal of Commerce. Savannah’s port operator is keen on opening the new berth at the Ocean Terminal in the next two years in anticipation of a surge in demand similar to the one experienced during the years of the pandemic.

 The Port of Savannah received record Asia imports in the past few years and suffered vessel backlogs for extended periods. This underlined the need for more investment in infrastructure to facilitate the handling of future growth.

The GPA will extend the new berth at the Ocean Terminal to nearly 850 meters and enable it to handle two 14,000-TEU ships simultaneously. The authority said it wants to extend it further after 2025 to allow it to handle two 16,000-TEU ships at the same time.

In March 2023, the port’s TEU volumes dropped by nearly 17% to 367,000 TEU. The GPA attributed the decrease to reduced orders from retailers and weak consumer spending.