VP Biden visits Port of Savannah, backs port expansion projects
After touring the Port of Savannah Monday, Vice President Joe Biden called for expediting port improvement projects on the U.S. East Coast. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Fox, Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, Congressman Jack Kingston, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson accompanied the vice president on the tour, the Georgia Port Authority said in a press release.
Post-Panamax vessels are too large to transit the current Panama Canal. By deepening the Savannah River to 47 feet, the project will enable the port to more efficiently serve the larger vessels expected to call in greater numbers after the canal’s 2015 expansion. Lower prices per container slot on Post-Panamax ships will save U.S. companies shipping goods through Savannah 20 to 40 percent on transportation, which translates into lower costs for the export of manufactured goods such as Caterpillars made in Peoria, Ill., and Nissans built in Smyrna, Tenn.
Officials noted the cross-party coalition of state and federal officials supporting the harbor expansion.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, working with the Georgia General Assembly, has allocated $231 million toward the project, which now awaits only an update from Congress to the current construction budget of $652 million.
GPA Board Chairman Robert Jepson said federal investment also is warranted by the Port of Savannah’s broad economic impact.
As Savannah is the East Coast’s busiest port for containerized exports, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project is critical to meeting the goals of the National Export Initiative. Exports make up 62 percent of Savannah’s containerized tonnage.
Georgia’s deepwater ports and inland barge terminals support more than 352,000 jobs throughout the state annually and contribute $18.5 billion in income, $66.9 billion in revenue and $2.5 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s economy. The Port of Savannah was the second busiest U.S. container port for the export of American goods by tonnage in FY2011. It also handled 8.7 percent of the U.S. containerized cargo volume and 12.5 percent of all U.S. containerized exports in FY2011. Check out GPA’s Youtube channel here.
