West Coast trouble helps Georgia ports break records (Savannah, Garden City: real estate, 2015)

[Airforceguy]

The Port keeps setting records.

The two coastal ports handled 31.69 million tons of cargo during the 2015 fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s their greatest tonnage ever and an increase of nearly 8 percent from a year ago.
The tonnage figure includes 3.6 million units of containerized cargo that moved through the Port of Savannah. That means containerized imports and exports jumped 17 percent from last year, when Savannah surpassed 3 million container units for the first time.
“It was a pretty amazing year for us,” said Curtis Foltz, the executive director of the ports authority.
Savannah benefited this past year from a labor dispute blamed for slowdowns at West Coast ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach. Shippers ended up diverting cargo to the East Coast to avoid delays. Georgia ports officials say Savannah was able to take on the extra business more efficiently than most others.
Foltz said he expects Savannah to see some permanent gains from the West Coast’s woes. How many new customers stick around remains to be seen.
Imports made up 54 percent of the Georgia ports’ business in fiscal 2015, while 46 percent of cargo was exported.

West Coast trouble helps Georgia ports break records | The Augusta Chronicle

[Airforceguy]

And on a related note, warehouse space is becoming scarce...

Industrial vacancy rates in the five-county Savannah area are the lowest they have been in 14 years, reflecting a national trend and sending a clear signal that the recent recession is well behind us, according to a report by Colliers International.

“Our industry tends to be slower to react to recovery from recessionary periods,” said David Sink, a principal in Colliers’ Savannah office. “So this kind of drop in the vacancy rate is very telling.

“It’s definitely time to build.”

The vacancy rate for warehouse and distribution center space at the end of the second quarter was 3.72 percent, the lowest since 3.54 percent in 2001. In 2009, the height of the recession for industrial real estate, Savannah’s warehouse vacancy rate was nearly 19 percent.

“Needless to say, we’ve gone a long period — about since early 2008 — with no speculative building,” Sink said. “Now, with nothing built in the better part of the last decade, we’re running out of room. All of the good space, with a few exceptions, is gone.”

Developers have taken note as they maneuver for remaining prime locations for both speculative and build-to-suit property, especially near Georgia Ports’ Garden City Terminal. More and more logistics companies are looking to get a foot in the door or — in the case of those already here — to expand their space.

“That fact that construction on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project is now under way is definitely a major influence, but a lot of what we’re seeing now is simply pent-up demand,” Sink said.

Warehouse space becomes scarce | BiS | Business in Savannah News