Port of Savannah news and developments (Pooler: cost of, moving, authority)

[pink caddy]

^^^^^this^^^€

[Airforceguy]

With a record-shattering 2017 almost in the books, Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch recently recapped the year and looked to 2018 and how the port is preparing for the growth ahead.

In a year-end letter to customers, Lynch said November numbers were particularly rewarding because of the strength of performance they indicated across the board.

“The ports handled 2.8 million tons of cargo in November, an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the same month a year ago,” he said, adding that while container tons increased 5.3 percent, GPA terminals also marked large increases in both breakbulk and bulk cargoes.

Breakbulk tonnage increased by 25 percent to reach 248,500 tons in November. At the Port of Savannah’s Ocean Terminal, breakbulk expansion was led by lumber, as well as iron and steel. Both categories increased by 50 percent over November 2016 in support of growing demand in construction and manufacturing. Total bulk cargo crossing GPA’s docks in November reached 170,700 tons, up 37 percent. At East River Terminal in Brunswick, terminal operator Logistec handled more than triple the business in bulk cargo compared to the same month a year ago. Most of that November growth came in increased demand for wood pellets, perlite and dry urea.

PortSide: Port ends year on high note, sees more growth ahead | BiS | Business in Savannah News

[Airforceguy]

The port continues to set records! It moved 4 million containers last year. Charleston only moved 2.2 million in 2017.

Exceeding 4 million container units puts the Port of Savannah far ahead of its nearest Southeast competitor, Charleston, South Carolina, which reported moving 2.2 million container units in calendar 2017.

Three other U.S. ports still handle much heavier container traffic than Savannah. The Port of Los Angeles moved 9.3 million container units last year. The Port of Long Beach, California, handled 6.8 million through November, while the Port of New York and New Jersey reported more than 6.1 million container units during the same 11-month period.

And it remains to be seen whether the Savannah port, which operates on a fiscal-year calendar, will remain above 4 million units for the fiscal 2018 period that began in July and ends June 30.

"That's a really good question," said Lynch, who expects growth to slow in the coming months. "I think we will. But it's not a lock for sure."

Milestone for Port of Savannah: 4M cargo containers in 2017

[Airforceguy]

When you have the fastest-growing deep-water port in the country, it’s bound to create a domino effect. So it should come as no surprise that Savannah is now the fastest-growing industrial real estate market in the country.Just ask veteran commercial real estate broker David Sink, a partner at Colliers International-Savannah.Indeed, at a growth rate of 8.7 percent – based on absorption as a percentage of available inventory – the Savannah market tops No. 2 growth market, Las Vegas, by nearly 3 percentage points.While Savannah’s industrial market will never be as big as those in major cities – Atlanta, for example, has some 600 million square feet – its 55.5 million square feet of inventory as of the end of 2017 has an overall vacancy rate of just 2.9 percent.

Portside: Developers, builders staying busy in Savannah

[Airforceguy]

Capital Development Partners, Inc. announced Friday its has purchased the 197-acre parcel, located west of Pooler Parkway, off U.S. 80 on Wild Cat Dam Road. The park will be called Savannah Port Logistics Center.

Atlanta firm to build 1 million square feet of warehouse space | SavannahNow

[Airforceguy]

Container trade set a new record in Savannah for the fiscal year to date, July to March, growing by 9 percent, with 255,786 additional units for a total of 3.08 million.

The month of March saw a 14 percent jump in container volumes, with the port moving 355,208 TEUs of containers. A TEU is a measurement used for containers. The dimension of one TEU is equal to that of a standard 20-foot long shipping container.

“Savannah’s continued strength is a reflection of our customers’ commitment, Georgia’s leadership, and the many dedicated service providers, GPA employees and ILA members who come together every day to achieve great things,” GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said. “March marked our 17th consecutive month of business expansion thanks, in part, to a strong economy and growing market share.”

Georgia Ports set growth records - Business - Savannah Morning News - Savannah, GA

[Airforceguy]

The 100,000-square-foot facility on 20 acres at Old River Road and I-16 has already grown by an 11,000-square foot onion drying room and its owners plan to double the size of the building within the next year.

The company has three times the number of workers it originally had forecast – 120 – and has exercised an option to buy another 162 acres, which it has cleared and is marketing to other food-related businesses.

PortFresh Logistics has expansion plans - Business - Savannah Morning News - Savannah, GA

Headquartered in Dalton in northwest Georgia, Shaw moved its Southeast distribution center from Columbia, S.C. to Savannah in 2013, which doubled its original 156,000 square footage on Northport Parkway to more than 300,000 square feet.

The new 1 million square foot facility that opened on Monday is the third building on the company’s Northport campus and puts the local footprint at 2.2 million square feet.

“We’re about creating a better future. Our vision is creating a better future for our customers, for our company and our associates and for the communities we live and work in,” said David Morgan, executive vice president of Shaw Industries.

Shaw opens new Port Wentworth distribution center - Business - Savannah Morning News - Savannah, GA

[Airforceguy]

It's crazy to think that the vacancy rate is less than 1%. Just goes to show how much the port is booming. Savannah is blessed to have such an economic juggernaut in its backyard.

Savannah’s booming industrial market added 1.4 million square feet in the first quarter of this year, but absorbed twice that amount of previously available space, leaving the area’s vacancy rates at an historic low of less than 1 percent, a new report shows.

“The overall industrial vacancy rate plummeted to an unprecedented 0.52 percent in the first three months of this year,” said David Sink, principal at Colliers International in Savannah.

“That’s the lowest it has been since we began tracking the market in 1999.”
It should come as no surprise, given Georgia Ports’ stunning recent growth.

GPA recently reported moving more than 3 million TEUs – or 20-foot container equivalents – in the first nine months of fiscal 2018, a 9-percent growth in container volume over the same period a year ago,

Those numbers come on the heels of a record fiscal 2017 that saw 4 million units handled, an 11 percent increase over 2016.

While the overall vacancy rate is scary enough, the vacancy rate for bulk inventory – buildings of 100,000 square feet or more – leaves even less wiggle room, dropping from 3.48 percent at the end of the calendar year to 0 percent at the end of March.


“This is fairly unprecedented,” Sink said this week. “In the 100,000-square-foot-plus market, there is literally nothing currently available – it’s all leased up.

Portside: Industrial vacancy rates hit bottom - Business - Savannah Morning News - Savannah, GA

[pink caddy]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/b...ort-trade.html

[Airforceguy]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/b...ort-trade.html

Savannah is blessed to have the port. At the rate its growing it certainly could top NY/NJ as the busiest port on the East Coast.