TOTAL HARBOR TONNAGE

TOTAL OCEANGOING TONNAGE

Source:

13,980,978 16,501,870 20,121,213 23,667,765 27,085,514 30,574,807 34,148,036 13,281,929 15,676,777 19,115,152 22,484,377 25,731,238 29,046,067 32,440,634

Waterborne Commerce of the United States; 1970-1988; Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers.
Projections as indicated in text.

40-Foot Channel Depth.

Container Fleet. Shippers are expected to adjust their fleets to take advantage of the deeper harbor. An analysis of the anticipated fleet composition, by design draft and vessel deadweight, for a 40foot harbor was prepared using data from Booz, Allen and Hamilton management consultants and Temple-Barker-Sloan, DRI/McGraw-Hill. By 2025, it is estimated that vessels with design drafts 41 feet and over will account for one-third to one-half of the fleet versus 15 percent with the existing 38 foot harbor, as shown in Table 21. Vessels in the Far East trade tend toward the larger figure, while the European trade fleet is projected to be somewhat smaller, on average.

Bulk Fleet. Grain exports were identified as a beneficiary of harbor deepening. According to shippers, the fleet of vessels carrying grain will shift from an average operating draft of 36 feet to operating drafts of 38 feet.

42-Foot Channel Depth.

Container Fleet. Shippers are expected to take even greater advantage of the opportunities available with a 42-foot harbor. By 2025, estimates call for approximately 50 percent of the fleet calling on Savannah to be composed of vessels with drafts 41 feet and over, in both the European and Far East fleets, as shown in Table 21.

Bulk Fleet. Bulk grain carriers will respond to a 42-foot harbor by using fully loaded 40-foot design draft vessels due to landside capacity constraints.

44-Foot Channel Depth.

Container Fleet. The container fleet calling on the Savannah Harbor will have the same characteristics as the fleet calling on the 42foot harbor.

Bulk Fleet. Bulk grain carriers will continue to utilize fully loaded 40-foot design draft vessels, again due to the capacity of the existing terminal.

Source:

Corps of Engineers, Savannah District. Derived from historical vessel calls and from data by Temple-Barker-Sloan and Booz, Allen and Hamilton. Europe with 42/44' channel and Far East with 40' channel. Europe only. Far East forecast with 40' channel is identical to 42' forecast for European traffic.

Port Facilities

Container and General Cargo Facilities. The Georgia Ports Authority operates two facilities which account for nearly all of container and general cargo tonnage handled in the Port of Savannah: the Garden City Terminal, which primarily handles containerized cargo and the Ocean Terminal break-bulk facility. Two other smaller terminals are operated by East Coast Terminal Company and the Georgia Steamship Company. These two facilities specialize in forest products, but handle a variety of general cargo and container commodities as well.

Oil Handling and Bunkering Facilities. There are 13 facilities located in Savannah Harbor equipped to receive and/or ship petroleum products. Amoco Oil Company handles nearly all crude oil shipments and approximately two-thirds of asphalt shipments. Gasoline, fuel oil, and jet fuel constitute the majority of other petroleum products handled at the various terminals. Vessels can be bunkered at Colonial Oil industries, Inc., Savannah Plant No. 2 Wharf. Other large ocean-going vessels are usually bunkered at berth in the harbor by tank barges.

Dry Bulk Handling Facilities. Ten facilities in the Savannah Harbor specialize in the handling of dry bulk commodities. These handling facilities are listed in the Economics Appendix. The Continental Grain Co., Inc. handles all of the grain shipments through the harbor. Also, bulk kaolin shipments are loaded from a facility operated by Colonial Oil Industries, Inc. From October 1989 through September 1990, this facility handled 925,000 short tons (about 90 percent) of bulk kaolin exports. Only the bulk grain shipments have been included in the benefit base for this analysis. Liquid Bulk Handling Facilities. Eleven companies at 10 facilities in the Port of Savannah handle miscellaneous liquid bulk commodities other than petroleum. These companies receive and ship a variety of liquid products, including caustic soda, liquid sulphur, sulfuric acid, latex, tall oil, molasses and white, green and black liquors. Three of the four companies allow public use of their terminals. The liquid bulk commerce has not been moved in sufficient quantities to justify the use of large tankers, however, and is not included in the benefit base for this analysis.

Port Expansion Plans

Recent studies for the Georgia Ports Authority performed by the consulting firm of Booz, Allen, and Hamilton, Inc. estimated the annual cargo handling capacity for the Containerport to be approximately 3.5 to 5 million short tons per year. This estimated range considers a number of operating practices which directly affect the total capacity of the facilities. Consequently, changes

in these operating practices will provide changes in facility capacity. Such practices include levels of wheeled and stacked container storage and container dwell time. The effects of operational congestion as capacity is approached is also considered in this estimate.

As part of a ten year facility development plan, the GPA has identified a series of expansion projects devoted to the development of additional container facilities at the current terminals of Garden City and Ocean Terminal. The plan provides for three additional berths and 178 additional acres. As a result of this development plan, approximately 7 to 9 million short tons of container cargo capacity will be available by the year 2000. This estimate assumes that current operational practices remain constant over time.

As indicated previously, however, changes in operating practices can provide additional capacity. For example, converting half of the current wheeled operations to stacked operations could potentially increase capacity by 60 percent, representing 11 to 14 million tons of capacity by the year 2000.

Projections indicate that facility capacity must be sufficient to accommodate more than 14 million tons of container cargo by the year 2045. Holding current operating practices constant, this forecasted amount of container tonnage is beyond the estimated operating capacity available in the year 2000. In anticipation of this constraint, GPA has begun formulating plans for the development of a new container facility. GPA is currently investigating alternative sites for this new facility along the current harbor project. Such sites include Hutchinson Island providing nearly 1,500 acres and Elba Island with 815 acres. Furthermore, additional acreage adjacent to Garden City Terminal is

also available.

While the site of the new facility has yet to be selected, preliminary facility design supports an additional 6 million tons of container cargo capacity supported by 225 acres of primary container storage area. With the development of this new facility, GPA will have approximately 13 to 15 million tons of container cargo capacity, which may still be short of the projected amount of 14 million tons in the year 2045. If necessary, GPA will have ample space to expand its facility to provide for the potential capacity shortfall of one million tons.

Further expansion alternatives include undeveloped acreage in Garden City and Ocean Terminal, or undeveloped acreage at the GPA new facility planned for the next century. As indicated, the planned facility would require only 15 to 20 percent of the available land of the Hutchinson Island or Elba Island sites, leaving ample land for further expansion as required.