Buttigieg doles out $241 million to ports to boost supply chain

In Ga., Colonel’s Island Terminal to receive $14.6M.

The Port of Brunswick will receive $14.6 million for improvements that will allow the Georgia port to dock and unload larger ships, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday.

The federal grant was one of 25 projects in 19 states receiving awards of more than $241 million through the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program.

Brunswick is primarily used to handle vehicles being imported or shipped overseas from the Kia plant in West Point and other manufacturers around the Southeast. Georgia’s largest port, in nearby Savannah, handles containers.

The work at Brunswick will be done at Georgia Colonel’s Island Berth #4 and is meant to “more efficiently accommodate the larger 7,000-plus-unit vehicle carrier vessels that are becoming the industry standard,” according to a statement by the department.

“U.S. maritime ports play a critical role in our supply chains,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in a statement. “These investments in our nation’s ports will help support American jobs, efficient and resilient operations, and faster delivery of goods to the American people.”

Buttigieg had alluded to the awards and the need to add capacity at Georgia’s ports last week while visiting the Port of Savannah.

The department this fall permitted the Georgia Ports Authority to redirect $8.2 million it had been previously obligated to repay to the federal government.

That money was used to help with opening four inland ports — including the Hulsey Yard in Atlanta owned by CSX rail — that are being used to store and distribute containers that had been part of the congestion at the Port of Savannah.

“We have been working this issue all year,” Buttigieg told The Atlanta Journal-constitution last week.

STEPHEN B. MORTON FOR THE AJC U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, during his visit last week to the Georgia Ports Authority’s Megarail facility, highlighted coordination with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Georgia Ports Authority to improve cargo flow by increasing rail capacity and activating flexible container yards.