This storm season in Coastal Georgia has been notably quiet, but that hasn't stopped extreme weather events from straining shipments to the Port of Savannah in recent weeks.
There was a trifecta of consecutive major storms on China’s coast in August that delayed shipments and a drought at the Panama Canal that reduced the number of ships permitted to pass earlier this month. But Georgia Ports Authority officials expect a rebound is coming, forecasting a strong September as the month ends.
“At some point, that glut of containers will come our way,” GPA President Kevin Price said in an interview after the authority’s Sept. 29 board meeting. “We see a lot of imports on the water coming our way, so we expect to have a strong end of the (calendar)
year.”
The strong September forecast comes after volumes were nearly flat year-over-year in August due in part to the weather-related challenges globally.
Drought at the Panama Canal has been caused by this year’s El Niño, prompting the reduction in vessels passing through. The low water levels led the Panama Canal Authority to reduce the number of shipments from a standard 36 per day to 30, GPA CEO Griff Lynch said at Tuesday's board meeting.
The authority recently increased that number to 33 after a couple weeks of healthy rain, according to Lynch.
“The cargo is going to start flowing. We’re really excited and September’s going to be a good month,” he said.
Despite those August challenges, the fiscal year has started strong for the container trade with over 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) moved through the first two months of the fiscal year. That volume is up 2.2% over the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Port officials are also encouraged by ocean carriers testing a return to the Suez Canal, which has largely been avoided by carriers since late 2023 due to conflicts in the Middle East. The Suez Canal is the easiest route for shipments from Southeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast, reducing transit times by 10 to 14 days, according to the GPA.
The Southeast Asia and India markets are key growth drivers at the Port of Savannah and along the East Coast, Lynch said, meaning the reduced shipments through the Suez have been felt over time.
“It certainly has been a major contributor to stymying our growth over the last two or three years,” Lynch said.
Lynch added that one carrier has told the authority it is back to 70% of its typical shipment levels through the canal with plans to return to 100% by the end of the year.
The reduced transit time provides carriers the opportunity to increase capacity, while also making the Port of Savannah competitive against West Coast ports with greater proximity to Asia, port officials said. The rebounds at the Panama Canal, combined with the news at the Suez Canal, are driving optimism at GPA.
“When the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal are working well, the Georgia Ports Authority is going to grow,” Lynch said.
GPA has been tracking for growth to be flat on the calendar year, but with recent developments on the Suez Canal, Lynch said he would not be surprised if growth came in positive. In the meantime, GPA has been boosting capacity to handle growth when it comes.
Renovation of Ocean Terminal into a full container terminal is now 60% complete. The terminal will serve smaller ships until fall 2027 when the first phase of its container yard is complete.
The full renovation will be completed by the end of 2028 and increase container capacity at the facility from 200,000 TEUs to 1.75 million TEUs. GPA Board Chairman Alec Poitevint added the authority’s focus on quality of service will continue to make it a strong competitor in the market.
“We want to be a port that is not only known but is service-oriented, is customer friendly and knows what the customer wants,” Poitevint said.
Evan Lasseter is the City of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah's port on pace for strong September with favorable global trends
