A Georgia seaport is closing the gap with Baltimore, the largest U.S. auto port

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The chief overseeing Georgia’s seaports said Tuesday that a record 830,000 cars moved through the Port of Brunswick south of Savannah in fiscal year 2024, putting it neck-and-neck with the largest U.S. auto port.

The combined number of automotive and heavy machinery handled by Brunswick and the Port of Savannah topped 876,000 in the fiscal year ended June 30, the Georgia Ports Authority reported. That’s a 21% increase from the same period a year ago.

Griff Lynch, CEO of the Port Authority, called it “a great year for us.”

The number of cars and light trucks shipping through the Port of Brunswick has surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With U.S. auto sales expected to grow by the largest amount in a decade in 2023, Georgia is investing $262 million in upgrades and expansions in Brunswick to make room for growth. Lynch said those projects are nearing completion and should be wrapped up in the fall.

Lynch predicted last October that Brunswick’s auto volume would surpass that of the Port of Baltimore by 2026. Baltimore has been the largest U.S. seaport for autos for more than a decade.

The new freight numbers from Georgia indicate that Brunswick is already very close. Maryland port officials reported that Baltimore handled 847,000 auto imports and exports in calendar year 2023.

The Baltimore Shipping Canal was completely closed for weeks following the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. The canal was then reopened in phases until the waterway was fully reopened in June.

Total auto volumes for the Port of Baltimore over the past 12 months aren’t yet available, said Maryland Port Administration spokesman Richard Sher. That’s because some of the port’s auto terminals are privately operated, he said, and don’t report volumes until the end of the calendar year.

When the bridge collapsed and auto shipments from Baltimore had to be rerouted, the Port of Brunswick received about 14,000 of those cars and trucks in April and May, Lynch said.

“Baltimore, I think, is probably still No. 1, but we’re closing the gap,” Lynch said. “We don’t want to be No. 1 because Baltimore had a bridge collapse.”

He also noted that Georgia’s big gains over the past year have largely come from other sources, such as automakers moving their operations from neighboring ports such as Charleston, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida, to Brunswick.

Georgia’s push to become a southern hub for electric vehicle manufacturing could send more cars across Brunswick’s docks, but perhaps not anytime soon. While Hyundai plans to open its first U.S. electric vehicle plant west of Savannah before the year is out, Lynch said he expects the plant to focus on vehicles for the U.S. market at first.

“I think it’s pretty clear by now that, at least in the early years, they weren’t going to export many cars,” Lynch said.

Also Tuesday, the Port Authority reported that the Port of Savannah handled 5.25 million container units in the latest fiscal year, a 2.3% decline from fiscal 2023. Savannah is the fourth-busiest U.S. port for containerized cargo. The giant metal boxes are used to transport goods ranging from consumer electronics to frozen chickens.

Lynch said container volumes fell in the last six months of 2023 as stock-logged retailers scaled back new orders, but have been recovering in recent months.