Key takeaways
- Georgia Ports Authority ten-year plan forecasts 54% growth and a $5 billion investment to add five Savannah berths and one Brunswick RoRo berth.
- The Port of Brunswick remains the nation’s busiest auto port in 2025, handling 779,000 autos and over 53,000 heavy machinery units.
- Gainesville Inland Port opened May 4, providing direct rail to Savannah, expecting to shift 26,000 containers first year and capacity for 200,000.
- Georgia Ports Authority Board reappointed officers: Chairman Alec Poitevint, Vice Chairman Chris Womack, and Secretary-Treasurer Ben Tarbutton III.
| SAVANNAH, Ga, May 19, 2026 – For the fiscal year to date (July – April), Georgia Ports has handled approximately 4.7 million TEUs in the Port of Savannah, a decrease of 2.5 percent or 118,422 TEUs. For the month of April, the port handled 443,650 twenty-foot equivalent container units in April, a decrease of 71,850 TEUs or nearly 14 percent compared to the same month last year, when GPA achieved its busiest April on record. Port officials said April 2025 was a record volume month where customers were front-loading their cargo prior to tariffs. “Our customers are managing through a softer market with higher operating costs. The Georgia Ports Authority remains focused on delivering capacity for the longer term so when the market changes we are ready to seamlessly absorb their growth,” said Georgia Ports President and CEO Griff Lynch. GPA’s ten-year plan forecasts 54 percent growth with a $5 billion investment plan to add five new container berths in Savannah and one new Rollon/Rolloff berth in the Port of Brunswick. No other U.S. port is expanding at that scale. To prepare for anticipated growth, both in vessel size and overall cargo volumes, a series of infrastructure projects are under way in the Port of Brunswick. The enhancements include a new, $100 million berth for Roll-on/Roll-off cargo, improvements to outdoor storage for vehicles, dredging and other harbor modifications. The Port of Brunswick handled 64,305 units of Roll-on/Roll-off cargo in April, an increase of 1,367 units or 2 percent. In that overall number, heavy equipment accounted for 4,694 units, an increase of 308 units or 7 percent. For the fiscal year to date, Brunswick has handled 639,574 RoRo units, a decrease of 85,213 units or 11.8 percent. For the second year in a row, the Port of Brunswick maintained its position as the nation’s busiest port for automobiles in 2025, handling 779,000 units of autos, plus more than 53,000 units of heavy machinery, representing both import and export movements. Gainesville Inland Port Opens GPA’s newest inland port in Georgia, the Gainesville Inland Port, opened May 4, launching direct rail service between Northeast Georgia and the Port of Savannah. The new facility offers shippers a direct rail connection to Savannah’s 40 global vessel services. The inland port is expected to transition 26,000 containers from truck to rail in its first year, reducing highway congestion and emissions tied to a 600-mile roundtrip drive. Served by Norfolk Southern, the $134 million project will ultimately provide capacity for up to 200,000 containers annually. GPA officers reappointed The Georgia Ports Authority Board reappointed officers on May 19, including Chairman Alec Poitevint, Vice Chairman Chris Womack and Secretary-Treasurer Ben Tarbutton III. “I would like to express my gratitude to Governor Kemp, the GPA board and the entire Georgia Ports team for their support this past year. I’m very proud of what we accomplished together to make Savannah the fastest growing port in the Southeast with the largest expansion plan of any U.S. port – and Brunswick the number one RoRo port for autos in the nation for a second consecutive year. It’s my honor to continue serving as chairman with such a distinguished board of business executives whose leadership and experience knows the importance of keeping customers first place in all our decisions and investments,” said GPA Chairman Alec Poitevint. |
 Alec Poitevint is the chairman and president of Southeastern Minerals, Inc. and its affiliated companies headquartered in Bainbridge. Poitevint is a past chairman of Georgia Ports Authority, having previously served the Authority from 2007-2016. He is also a former president, vice-chairman and director of First Port City Bank of Bainbridge. He is past chairman of the American Feed Industry Association and National Feed Ingredients Association. He serves as a director of the Georgia Agribusiness Council and was Federal Commissioner of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Water Compact. Poitevint was a former mission member of the U.S. Agricultural Trade and Development Mission to Europe in 1990 and U.S. Delegate to the World Food Summit in 2002. |
 Chris Womack is president and CEO of Southern Company, one of the nation’s leading energy providers, serving 9 million customers. Prior to his current role, since 2021 he served as chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power, leading Southern Company’s largest subsidiary. He assumed leadership of Georgia Power after serving as executive vice president and president of external affairs for Southern Company, where he led overall external positioning and branding efforts, including the company’s public policy strategies and oversaw the company’s governmental and regulatory affairs, corporate communication initiatives and other external and strategic business engagements. Prior to joining Southern Company, Womack worked on Capitol Hill for the U.S. House of Representatives. He is co-chair of the Edison Electric Institute Customer Solutions Policy Committee and a member of the board of directors of Invesco Ltd. |
 Ben Tarbutton III is president of the Sandersville Railroad Company, a shortline railroad located in Sandersville, Ga. The Sandersville Railroad has been in operation since 1893 and hauls various commodities including kaolin, wood chips, chemicals, and plastics. Tarbutton also serves as a board member of the Georgia Tech Foundation, as a Regional Vice President of the Southern Region for the American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association, and as the vice chairman of the Washington County Industrial Development Authority. He is a past chairman of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Georgia, Washington County Chamber of Commerce, and past president of the Georgia Railroad Association and Sandersville Rotary. |
