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February 16, 2016
                          Allen Lund Company Newsletter
                            Written by your perishable experts 

In This Issue
Logistical Growth in Savannah
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Logistical Growth in Savannah

The city of Savannah was established in 1733 and is the oldest city in the state of Georgia. There are many attributes that characterize Savannah: southern comfort food, Spanish moss, and plenty of history. However, one of the driving forces of the local economy is the Port of Savannah. The Port of Savannah is the second busiest port on the East Coast with 25,899,540 tons of container volume annually, and the fourth largest cargo port in the United States. In the works is the Savannah Expansion Project which is a plan to dredge the Savannah River to accommodate larger vessels. All in all we will look at the Savannah port expansion and the impact of the transportation industry in the South East.    

The Savannah expansion project will deepen the Savannah River from 42 feet to 48 feet. In addition to the deepening of the river, seven miles will extend the entrance channel, three bend wideners and two meeting areas will be constructed. The deepening and widening of the Savannah River is to accommodate the large container ships that have been coming through the Panama Canal that had their expansion in 2013. This is expected to cost the state of Georgia 266 million dollars with an additional 400 million coming from the Federal Government. Ocean carrier providers are building bigger ships in order to make shipping more efficient and cost effective. Savannah will be in prime position to accept shipments from the world's largest ships. With funding and construction on schedule this project is expected to be complete next year in 2017. However, there are a few obstacles that this project is up against. First, is the federal funding. Second is complying the environmental regulations of both Georgia and South Carolina because the project affects both states. Environmentalists have raised concerns about oxygen levels in the water and protecting the surrounding protected wildlife areas. As of now the project has many of the issues addressed and will be able to move forward with the dredging and port expansion.

There are several positive impacts that the port expansion will have on Savannah's local economy and the transportation industry. One impact will be the amount of produce being shipped to the Port of Savannah. Already the port has seen it's first shipment of avocado's and tangelos. According to the Georgia Port Authority the project will add an additional 369,193 full and part time jobs to the state of Georgia which will account for 8.4 percent. In addition, the port will provide 1 billion dollars in local taxes and 1.3 billion dollars in state taxes. With the larger ships bringing in more volume to the area it will create a demand to accommodate more crane, rail yards, and warehousing. With the expected increase in freight coming Savannah is an attractive place to build warehouses due to the strategic location adjacent to I-95 and rail road access. Over all Savannah is in prime position to grow and expand in the logistics industry and could be considered the freight capital of the South East once the project is complete.

In the past, South Georgia has been known for its Vidalia onion farms but now the Savannah Port Expansion project is going to open the doors for shippers to come in and set up warehousing and add it to their supply chain.  Despite the hurdles of this project we can see an increase on freight in Savannah in 2017 which could make Savannah the major transport hub for the South East for the future of imported freight.
  



Clark Kessery
Transportation Broker, Savannah

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Clark Kessery graduated from James Madison University in 2013 with a Political Science degree. Kessery has been a Transportation Broker with the Allen Lund Company since October of 2013.
About Allen Lund Company: Specializing as a national third-party transportation broker with nationwide offices, the Allen Lund Company works with shippers and carriers across the nation to transport dry, refrigerated (specializing in produce), and flatbed freight; additionally, the Allen Lund Company has an international division, which is licensed by the FMC as an OTI-NVOCC #019872NF, and a logistics and software division, ALC Logistics. 
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