GPA Approves Infrastructure Investments

The Board of Directors of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) today elected James L. Allgood as new chairman.

Allgood, who will assume his new responsibilities July 1, is replacing outgoing chairman James Walters.

“With our harbor deepening under way, the infrastructure investments we’re making on terminal, and the improvements to road and rail connections we’re building in Georgia, there is a wealth of opportunity ahead of us,” Allgood said.

Also at the board meeting, the authority approved its fiscal year 2017 budget, including $116 million for capital infrastructure improvements that will cover 15 projects.

Currently featuring more ship-to-shore cranes than any other U.S. terminal, at 22, Savannah’s Garden City Terminal will add four cranes this year. Another set of four will arrive in the late spring of 2018, bringing the total number to 30 cranes.

The board also announced that in consultation with Governor Nathan Deal and the Office of Planning and Budget, it is committed to fully funding its three-year, $7.5 million commitment to the Jasper Ocean Terminal Joint Project Office (JPO). The funds will cover Georgia’s share of the JPO operating costs, as well as the services of a third-party contractor hired to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Jasper Ocean Terminal.

As planned, the new terminal will feature 10 berths (phased in to meet rising demand), a turning basin, road and rail access corridors, and supporting infrastructure on 1,500 acres in Jasper County, S.C. This new investment will increase the region’s capacity by 7 million twenty-foot equivalent container units.