Bigger ships, new services carry Georgia ports to container record
Written by Railway Age StaffThe Georgia Ports Authority handled a record 350,104 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in May, a gain of 11.68% from the same month a year ago.
The authority credited larger vessels transiting the newly expanded Panama Canal and additional container services coupled with a positive economic forecast.
Garden City Terminal received 1,676 vessel calls between July 2016 and May 2017 of which 454 transited the expanded Panama Canal. This led to a 16% increase in throughput for that route during that time.
The port has seen recent calls of Ultra Large Container Carrier vessels of more than 12,000 TEUs, including the Cosco Development and OOCL France.
Garden City moved than 19,000 TEUs from the two 13,000-plus ships, which called the Port of Savannah just 21 days apart.
Shipping lines in April realigned to form new alliances, and 35 weekly container services now call Garden City Terminal, which the authority said is more than any other port on the U.S. East Coast.
