THE Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced that the Port of Savannah ended 2024 handling 5.6 million TEU, surpassing 2023's volumes by 618,000 TEU or 12.5 per cent.

The figure is just shy of the Savannah's all-time record of 5.9 million TEU set in 2022, but marks a milestone year for one of America's fastest-growing maritime gateways on the US East and Gulf coasts.

President and CEO Griff Lynch highlighted the port's resilience amid global challenges, including disruptions at the Suez Canal and extended labour negotiations between the International Longshoremen's Association and the US Maritime Alliance, which resulted in a new 6-year contract.

"Even in a challenging year, we still found a way to grow by 12.5 percent, and connectivity is key," Mr Lynch stated.

The port authority also provided updates key infrastructure developments, including the immediate opening of a new lay berth at Ocean Terminal, reports Ventura, California's gCaptain.

"While we're renovating Ocean Terminal, we're going to use the berth space there as a staging area for big ships," Mr Lynch said.

"This will drastically reduce the transition time between large vessels departing and arriving, allow us to work two more big ships per week and add up to 1 million TEU of extra capacity per year."

Future developments include a second lay berth at Ocean Terminal coming online in 2026, which will improve berth efficiency at Garden City Terminal by reducing idle time from 12 hours to just 3 hours.

The Ocean Terminal renovation project will proceed in two phases, with completion dates set for mid-2027 and mid-2028, adding 1.5 million TEU of yearly capacity.

The most significant development is the planned Savannah Container Terminal on Hutchinson Island, scheduled to begin operations in 2030. This facility will add three big ship berths and 3.5 million TEU of annual capacity.

The total investment in Ocean Terminal and Savannah Container Terminal amounts to $4 billion, with projections showing Savannah reaching a 12.5 million-TEU capacity by 2035.