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Georgia Port of Savannah
of trade development for bene cial cargo owner sales, says a massive rail expansion project is underway that will lift the Port of Savannah’s rail lift capacity to one million containers per year.
Logan says the project, which will result in the Mason Mega Rail terminal, will cut transit times by 24 hours to inland markets such as St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Memphis, TN.
“Over the past ve years, the Georgia Ports Authority has added nearly 600 refrig- erated container slots, 16 new truck lanes and thousands of new chassis to stay ahead of increasing demand,” says Logan. “ e Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal features the nation’s most extensive on-terminal infra- structure for refrigerated cargo, with 119 elec- tric-powered refrigerated container racks.”
He adds the port has seen an increase in fruit imports from South America since the Panama Canal was widened, with six out of nine Panama services making Savannah their rst port of call in the United States.
“Savannah serves a strong and growing portfolio, including imported blueberries, mangos, citrus, grapes, avocados, bananas, apples, pears, pineapples, plantains and plums,” says Logan. “As the most westerly of U.S. East Coast container terminals, the Port of Savannah is 100 miles closer to major inland markets such as Atlanta than any other port.”
AN INFLUX IN FLORIDA
PortMiami has bene ted from its dredging and infrastructure works. Eric Olafson, director of global trade and business development, says deepening the port to 50-52 feet has facilitated the entry of bigger ships, bringing signi cant savings related to economies of scale.
“ e Panama Canal expansion project has actually added another lane for ocean carriers to use when sending products from the West Coast of South America,” says Olafson. “In fact, in 2018 we saw a 300% increase in container cargo coming from Peru and an 88% increase coming from Ecuador — two key growing markets in the perishable trade.”
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e port has spent more than $1 billion in on-dock rail and a highway tunnel that provides access to the U.S. interstate system, he says.
“We plan to continue investing in infra- structure at PortMiami, including $11 million in state-of-the-art new gate technology, more than $40 million for four new post-Panamax cranes, $4 million in reefer racks and $36 million in E-RTG cranes,” he says.
Olafson also references Miami’s geographic advantage as the closest to fruit-growing regions in Latin America and the Caribbean, bringing about extended shelf life for perish- ables. To boot, the port’s extended USDA hours of operations allow for same-day deliveries to 14 million people in South and Central Florida.
“We can also provide next-day service to perishables markets in Atlanta, Charlotte, NC and Nashville, TN and the entire Southeastern U.S. in one to two days using our fast access highway tunnel and our on-dock rail,” he says.
He adds PortMiami is the only U.S. port
designated as a CBP center of excellence and expertise for agriculture and agricultural prepared products.
“One of our biggest shippers of perishables, Seaboard Marine, which has a terminal at Port- Miami, worked with the appropriate federal agencies and PortMiami to begin inspections in the winter at 5 a.m. using special lights, which allows perishable cargo to nish inspection and move o port by 7 a.m.,” he says. “ is is a turnaround time that is unheard of.”
An investment has also been made in a new lab to host a USDA identi er onsite so if an insect is found in a shipment it can be immedi- ately identi ed “without costly delays that occur at ports without similar investments.”
“We conduct our inspections on-dock, which helps preserve the shelf life by not creating major delays related to o -port inspec- tions,” explains Olafson.
Andres Ocampo, director of operations at HLB Specialties in Fort Lauderdale, FL, says
n COLD TREATMENT PROGRAM — VITAL TO SOUTHEAST OPERATIONS
One of the biggest game-changers for fruit imports into the Southeast has been the cold treatment pilot program for certain commodities, which started at PortMiami and Port Everglades in 2013 and has since spread further.
In 2014, the Port of Savannah was brought into the initiative, followed by Jacksonville, FL, Tampa Bay, FL, and Manatee, FL, in 2015, Charleston, SC, in 2016 and then New Orleans, Canaveral, FL, and Virginia in 2017.
“It has allowed us to open markets for new products such as grapes, blueberries and citrus from Peru, apples and pears from Argentina and blueberries from Uruguay and Chile,” says Eric Olafson, director of global trade and business development at PortMiami.
“At the Port of Savannah, the USDA In-transit Cold Treatment Program means cargo owners have a new, more efficient route to serve the U.S. Southeast,” notes Chris Logan, Georgia Ports’ senior director oftradedevelopmentforbeneficialcargo owner sales. “This has led to increased interest from cargo owners in Savannah as a new port of entry, with a subsequent broadening of the types and volume of produce handled at Garden City Terminal.”
Pat Compres, chief executive of
Advance Customs Brokers & Consulting LLC, Miami, says the program has been vital for continued growth in the market.
“We are advocates for expansion of the program including allowing comple- tion of cold treatment and retreatment in South Florida and the entry of other origins and commodities into Savannah, Los Angeles and Houston,” she says.
Although port operators in Florida, Georgia and other Southeast states are bullish on the program, import stalwarts in the North seem undeterred. GT USA Port of Wilmington chief executive, Eric Casey, says the program’s impact on Delaware River ports has been minimal.
“That’s because the volume still gravitates to our region, which has the decades of experience and supportive infrastructure and trans- portation network to best support the most population dense region in North America,” says Casey. “This gravita- tion can take a longer, more expensive route via truck from the Southeast, or can sail up to Wilmington, which is ready to receive with a very experi- enced staff.
“We also have the option to restart a failed CT [cold treatment] rather than be required to re-export,” he says. pb