Savannah Expands Intermodal Railyard

The Georgia Ports Authority board approved a $6.5 million, 6,000-foot extension of the Mason Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, as the Port of Savannah aim to further fuel growing intermodal rail traffic.

Construction will begin in January on the project, which will increase to 4,291 linear feet the rail track at two railyards serving CSX and Norfolk Southern at the port’s Garden City Terminal.

Intermodal container transfers at the port from July through October, the first four months of the GPA’s fiscal year, rose 14 percent to 109,036 moves. August volumes were 28,610, a record.

October container volume was down 6.7 percent year-over-year, with a 9.43 percent drop in imports offsetting a 3.48 percent increase in export loads. Through the first four months of the fiscal year, container volumes were up 1 percent.

The port authority posted a 10.4 percent increase to 207,545 tons in breakbulk volumes. Through the first four months of the fiscal year, breakbulk volume was up 14.9 percent 797,486 tons.

-- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.