Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Georgia Ports Authority.

Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Georgia Ports Authority.

Whereas the Georgia Ports Authority was established in 1945 and will mark 80 years of service in 2025 as a cornerstone of Georgia’s economy and a driver of global commerce;

Whereas with its main operations at the Port of Savannah and the Port of Brunswick, Georgia Ports Authority has transformed Georgia into a global gateway for trade and a national leader in logistics and port efficiency;

Whereas Georgia’s ports support more than 609,000 jobs statewide, generate $40,000,000,000 in income, $171,000,000,000 in business revenue annually, and contribute $5,300,000,000 in State and local tax revenues;

Whereas container traffic has grown by 784 percent since 1995, and in 2024, Savannah became the fastest growing port on the United States East and Gulf Coast, handling approximately 5,600,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers per year;

Whereas Savannah’s Garden City Terminal supports 32 to 33 weekly ship calls and generates 42 double-stack trains per week to inland markets with the industry’s best rail dwell times on port, averaging just 22 hours in March 2025;

Whereas the Georgia Ports Authority continues to operate efficiently, handling 14,000 to 16,000 truck moves daily with some truckers completing 6 to 8 trips per day, and single container moves taking as little as 35 minutes;

Whereas the Georgia Ports Authority has invested $3,200,000,000 over the last decade to modernize and expand its facilities, with an additional $4,500,000,000 planned over the next 10 years to meet rising demand;

Whereas by 2030, the Georgia Ports Authority plans to double Savannah’s ship berths, expand container storage, add truck lanes, enhance on-dock rail services, deepen the harbor, and raise the Talmadge Bridge to accommodate larger vessels;

Whereas Savannah’s Ocean Terminal is being fully converted to a container port with major phased upgrades through 2028;

Whereas Brunswick’s Colonel’s Island recently completed $262,000,000 in capacity upgrades, including new warehousing and vehicle processing space, with a fourth berth for RoRo vessels in the engineering phase and an ongoing expansion for vehicle rail capacity to 600,000 units annually;

Whereas the Georgia Ports Authority has committed $6,000,000 toward housing support for communities near the ports and operates the YES+ program, now in its seventh year, to train high school graduates for long-term careers in the maritime industry; and

Whereas Georgia’s strategic location, fast rail service, and access to global markets, including faster routes to southeast Asia and India, make the Georgia Ports Authority vital to the growing southeast manufacturing and population centers: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) recognizes the Georgia Ports Authority for 80 years of strengthening Georgia’s economy and connecting the State to global commerce; and

(2) commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Georgia Ports Authority.