THE Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has started accepting loaded containers at the freight railroads near Dillon Yard, highlighting retailers' need to open pop-up container yards to bypass Savannah's port jams, reports New York's FreightWaves
THE Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has started accepting loaded containers at the freight railroads near Dillon Yard, highlighting retailers' need to open pop-up container yards to bypass Savannah's port jams, reports New York's FreightWaves. The announcement is part of the South Atlantic Supply Chain Relief Programme that's designed to reclaim space at the Garden City Terminal, where container crowding is making it challenging for vessels to unload.
In October, Savannah handled an all-time record of 504,350 TEU for a single month, an increase of 8.7 per cent over October 2020.
The volume surpassed the GPA's previous record of 498,000 TEU set in March. For the fiscal year 2021, container volumes increased 20 per cent over last year.
'Port officials began testing the Dillon Yard and Statesboro locations last week after renting top loaders for stacking and truck transfers, installing computer lines in order to track containers entering the gate with radio frequency identification and laying extra pavement at the rail facility,' said Georgia Ports Authority COO Ed McCarthy.
'We're starting to see some of our customer base do their own pop-ups. They're contracting with some folks who have capabilities in the Savannah region and taking their long-term destiny in their own hands.' said Mr McCarthy.
The Biden administration helped fund the GPA's emergency storage yards by reallocating US$8 million in federal funds.
Said White House port envoy John Porcari: 'We're encouraging other ports to do the same [thing as Savannah.] I think you'll see a generation of projects in the short term around the country that will help maximize the existing on-dock capacity through interior pop-up sites,'
'The fundamental issue is that the docks themselves are such valuable pieces of real estate that you don't want the containers dwelling there a second longer than you have to. You want to get them to the interior or back on ships to their target markets overseas.' said Mr Porcari.
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