WASHINGTON: The Georgia Ports Authority posted 12.3 percent growth in year-over-year container volumes for December, an increase made even more impressive by the fact that December 2015 reflected inflated cargo numbers as the threat of a strike on the West Coast sent more containers Georgia’s way. December’s 292,172 twenty-foot equivalent container units — known as TEUs — marked a new record for the ports, executive director Griff Lynch told the GPA board Monday at its first meeting of 2017.
The growth in containers was replicated in December’s roll-on/roll-off cargo, with 63,967 autos, trucks and heavy equipment units handled at Colonel’s Island in Brunswick and Ocean Terminal in Savannah, also a 12.3 percent increase year-over-year. Break-bulk tonnage was up 15.8 percent, while liquid and dry bulk tonnage was down 22.6 percent last month, as growth in biodiesel and asphalt imports were unable to offset lower imports of vegetable oil, chemicals and caustic soda and exports of turpentine and petroleum products.
Revenue for the month was $29.3 million, 2.5 percent above the amount budgeted for December and 10.2 percent above December 2015. Operating expenses came in at $17 million. Overall, the port marked its busiest year ever in loaded container traffic in 2016, moving 2.94 million TEUs, an increase of 71,083 over 2015. Counting loaded and empty containers, the Port of Savannah moved 3.64 million TEUs in calendar year 2016.
