Georgia ports post record for April as traffic surges

Movement of cargo up 8.7% over last fiscal year despite trade wars.

The Georgia Ports Authority on Monday said its Savannah terminal reported its busiest April on record as cargo traffic rebounded for the second straight month.

Ports officials said freight volume on the Savannah River increased 1.9 percent in April from the same month a year earlier. About 3.7 million 20-foot equivalent units or TEUs of cargo have passed through the Savannah port in the fiscal year ending in June. That’s up 8.7 percent compared to fiscal year 2018, and suggests global trade tensions haven’t derailed import and export traffic.

Fog on the Savannah River in February ended the Savannah port’s 27-month run of year-overyear growth, but shippers have resumed their record-breaking pace despite the overhang of tariffs, trade disputes and shaky global economic conditions.

“We’re nearly a full month ahead of last year’s volume at this point,” Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said in a news release.

Also on Monday, the Georgia Ports Authority board elected a new chairman, elevating vice chairman William D. McKnight to the top post. McKnight will succeed Jimmy Allgood starting July 1. Allgood will remain on the board.

McKnight is president and senior project manager of McKnight Construction in Augusta and a fixture in Augusta business and political circles. McKnight was one of the driving forces behind the Georgia Cyber Center in Augusta, a public-private cybersecurity training center.

The high-tech center’s mission is to train the next generation of cybersecurity experts to support the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command, which will soon be based at Fort Gordon outside Augusta. The facility is also home to a GBI Cyber Crime Center.

McKnight was appointed to the ports board by former Gov. Nathan Deal in 2014.

Patrick “Kelly” Farr Jr., who currently serves as director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, has been named vice chairman.

J. SCOTT TRUBEY / STRUBEY@AJC.COM / 2018 FILE A river pilot craft guides a Malaysian freighter to a berth at the Port of Savannah, which is currently experiencing record volumes of cargo.