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Savannah’ s‘ parking spot’ targets idle time for ships

By Michael Angell

The Port of Savannah is using underutilized berth space at its smaller terminal to park ships ahead of their unloading at the port’ s main container terminal. This reduces the number of ships idling at anchor, an issue that hit the port hard during a particularly tough winter but will also require long-term improvements for navigating the Savannah River.

The Georgia Ports Authority( GPA) said in late February it would open a lay berth at its Ocean Terminal to stage large ships prior to their arrival at GPA’ s main Garden City marine terminal two miles upriver.

GPA Chief Executive Griff Lynch told the Journal of Commerce in early March that the opening of the Ocean Terminal lay berth means a ship can be immediately ready to dock at Garden City when there is an open berth. Previously, ships waited at anchor outside the port for a berth to open at Garden City, then made the 13-mile transit up the Savannah River when the navigation conditions permitted.

“ It’ s a parking spot at Ocean Terminal where a ship can be docked,” Lynch said. Having the lay berth allows GPA to handle two more post-Panamax ships per week than it can currently, he added. GPA will also get more utilization out of Garden City as the idle time between ship calls for berths will drop from 12 hours to three hours.

The plan to open the lay berth at Ocean Terminal— part of the GPA’ s broader strategy to increase container handling at the facility serving a variety of cargoes— comes after a rare snowstorm in late January that contributed to a backlog of ships at anchor to start 2025.

Winter storm Enzo dropped three to four inches of snow on Savannah, which closed Garden City for four days, Lynch said. The warming trend following Enzo caused heavy fog conditions during early February that also periodically closed the Savannah River to navigation. Lynch said the port lost 143 work hours due to the January snowstorm, which was among the“ worst months

Staging ships closer to Savannah’ s primary terminal could cut idle time between ship berths to three hours. mark stephens photography / Shutterstock. com for weather” that he has ever seen at Savannah. While the port had little backlog during December, the terminal closure and the fog led to a backlog of anchored vessels outside the port that reached as many as 20 to 25 ships on some days, Lynch said.

Limits of Savannah River

For shippers, the backlog meant further delays in receiving cargo. The median delay between the estimated time of arrival and the actual time of arrival for container ships calling Savannah reached over 10 days in February, according to data from visibility provider p44. This compares with a median delay of around four days for other major East Coast ports.

Lynch, who said customers asked about delays during the Journal of Commerce’ s TPM25 conference, said the worst is well past Savannah. The port is seeing about eight or nine ships at anchor at a time now, he said, adding that the wait time for an open berth at Garden City is only about three days, which is close to typical at most East Coast ports.

Outside of weather events, the Ocean Terminal lay berth also offers GPA a workaround for the capacity limits of the Savannah River. The river is only wide enough for post-Panamax ships to travel in one direction at a time, further limiting arrivals and departures at Garden City.

The Savannah River also has one of the largest tidal shifts along the Eastern seaboard; that can impact the berthing window for the port. The river, which is dredged to 47 feet, sees an average tidal shift of seven feet. That shift can impact the air clearance for large ships under the Talmadge Bridge just downriver from Garden City.

“ We have a challenge with the shipping channel.”

The Georgia Department of Transportation is in the early stages of coming up with a new bridge design as it plans to demolish the Talmadge Bridge. The US Army Corps of Engineers is also looking at modifications to Savannah’ s lower harbor that would allow for two-way ship traffic in some spots. But those projects will take time, Lynch said.

“ We have a challenge with the shipping channel,” he said.“ A harbor modification that would enable passing zones will take a number of years. In the meantime, we have a solution for that through developing Ocean Terminal for container handling.”

Lynch said a second lay berth for large ships will open at Ocean Terminal by mid-2026, which will allow another two big ships per week to call Garden City. By 2027, Ocean Terminal is expected to start capital improvements to become a dedicated container terminal for handling up to 1.5 million TEUs per year, Lynch said.

email: michael. angell @ spglobal. com

18 Journal of Commerce | April 7, 2025 www. joc. com