With the president’s signing of the Water Resources Reform and 100 miles closer to Atlanta than any other port.
Development Act of 2014, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project
(SHEP)
is
authorized
to
begin
construc on. “A deeper harbor will fully complement the landside infrastructure
improvements that are currently under way to increase the Port of
“With today’s ac on, SHEP has officially received a green light,” said Savannah’s capacity and improve services throughout our mari me
Georgia Ports Authority Execu ve Director Cur s Foltz on June 10, logis cs network,” Foltz said. “Garden City Terminal now employs 25
2014 a er the signing. "This project is the result of an open and of the largest ship‐to‐shore cranes on the East Coast, 116 rubber‐
collabora ve process involving all interested stakeholders which red gantry cranes, two on‐terminal rail yards, and, soon, direct
received approval of mul ple regulatory agencies. We would like to highway access from the port to Interstates 95 and 16.”
thank the Administra on, our elected officials throughout Georgia
and Washington, Governor Deal, Senator Isakson, Senator Jepson also noted the GPA board’s recent $86.5 million purchase of
Chambliss, Congressman Kingston and then en re Congressional four new Super Post‐Panamax ship‐to‐shore cranes and 20 new
delega on, and all of those who worked relessly to reach this rubber‐ red gantry cranes (RTGs) – set to start arriving in 2016. The
cri cal
milestone.” board has also budgeted $8 million to con nue the transi on of
Garden City’s RTG fleet from diesel to electric power – a move that
“The next step for SHEP calls for Georgia to enter a Project will help the GPA avoid the use of millions of gallons of diesel each
Partnership Agreement (PPA) with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, year and the associated air emissions. .
defining how the costs of the project es mated at $706 million will
be shared between the state and federal government. Foltz said he Foltz said that at 3 million twenty‐foot equivalent container units
expects to have a binding PPA within 90 days, allowing accelerated (TEUs) per year, the Port of Savannah now moves four mes the
use of Georgia’s por on of the funding. These funds will be credited containers it handled when Congress ini ally authorized SHEP in
against the state’s ul mate cost share at the end of construc on. 1999. He said improved efficiency will allow the GPA to more than
double its annual throughput to 6.5 million TEUs without increasing
Seeing the port deepening through to final authoriza on has been a the physical footprint of the 1,200‐acre Garden City Terminal.
top priority for GPA Board Chairman Robert Jepson during his two
years leading the board.