At the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) Board Meeting held in Savannah, the GPA released its fiscal year end results showing that the Port of Savannah set new annual records for containers handled and total tonnage. The Port of Savannah further established itself as the second busiest container facility on the East Coast and fourth in the nation. 'In fiscal year 2007, the Port of Savannah handled 2.338 million Twenty foot Equivalent Unit containers (teus),' said Stephen S. Green, Chairman of GPA's Board of Directors. 'This is an impressive 14.5% increase over last year and clearly establishes Savannah as a gateway for American commerce.'

Port of Brunswick also experienced significant gains, Green added. 'Our Colonel's Island facility handled a record 1.245 million tons, a ten% increase over the previous year. The gains were especially dramatic in bulk commodities with 438,671 tons moving through the facility, a 41.1% increase over the previous year.'

'Our 10-year strategic plan was developed in part to address the record growth of international trade in Georgia,' said Green. 'As we continue to move forward with our $1.2 billion capital investment program at Georgia's ports, the results of these investments are already beginning to be felt throughout the region. We are on track to triple our container capacity at the Port of Savannah and more than double the number of automobiles handled at the Port of Brunswick due to ongoing expansion programs.'

GPA Executive Director Doug J. Marchand said: 'Georgia continues to attract container volume faster than any other state in the nation. This is the result of strategic marketing, aggressive expansion and significant market share increases in trades like India, South and Northeast Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean, further diversifying our portfolio of services.'

During the last ten years of Marchand's leadership at the GPA, teu containers have increased from 697,259 in FY97 to 2,338,300 in FY07, a 235% increase. In just the past five years, intermodal lifts have grown from 99,858 in FY02 to 235,448 in FY07, a 136% increase.