Terry College of Business - Fall 2008 - (Page 33) Under Green’s leadership, the GPA board has created a $1.4 billion capital improvement plan. Coupled with the proposed deepening of the Savannah River channel to 48 feet, the plan will ready the Savannah port for a new generation of Super Post Panamax container ships bearing the cargo equivalent of what 5,800 semi tracker-trailers or 570 Boeing 747s could haul. computerized facilities in the country, allowing every unloaded container to be tracked from port of origin to final destination. A unique aspect of the Savannah port is its success in attracting large distribution centers, marketing to national corporations the core of its business toward these giant-sized cargo haulers. In that direct their cargo to Savannah. Some retailers, such as Target, the quest for federal funds for SHEP, Green called on his political operate their own distribution centers near the port, unloading their experience to identify Congressional districts all over the country own shipments and whisking them away via a complex logistics system directly to their retail outlets. whose products moved regularly through Georgia’s ports. Savannah’s geography is another important component of the “You know the saying, ‘All politics is local,’” says Green, who majored in management at Terry. “We had to show people in port’s success: The major interstate arteries of I-95 and I-16 allow Congress that the Savannah port is local to them. It may not be in direct access for trucking imports to 80 percent of the American their district, or their state, but they’ve got 5,000 workers depen- population in the eastern U.S. Major railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern) also operate at the port, allowing more direct shipments dent on it. That makes it of vital interest to their constituents.” Heady leadership is vital when you’re talking about a potential of goods. Perhaps the Savannah port’s most distinctive aspect is the fact armada of next-generation ships — bearing the cargo equivalent of what 5,800 semi tractor-trailers, or 570 Boeing 747s could haul that once these enormous ships are unloaded, they don’t leave emp— arriving at the docks. Vessels that call on Savannah’s Garden ty-handed. Georgia maintains an enviable balance of trade, currently City and Ocean Terminals embark from China, South Korea, exporting slightly more products than it imports — a unique status among the nation’s ports. The India, Germany, and Brazil. From GeorGia Ports by the Numbers state’s top exports to the rest of the mouth of the Savannah River, The Georgia Ports Authority oversees the Port of Savannah’s Garden City and Ocean the world — kaolin, wood pulp, they are escorted by tugboats that City Terminals, as well as Brunswick Harbor’s Colonel’s Island Terminal and smaller fabrics, poultry, paper — usunudge them into berths like valets facilities in Bainbridge and Columbus. ally leave from a ship docked negotiating snug-fitting parking at a Georgia port. They travel spots. These floating warehouses are to Europe and, via the Panama piled high with a variety of goods Canal, to Asia; through the Suez — furniture, toys, hardware, beer Canal, they reach India and the — and the list of importers includes Middle East. industry giants like Home Depot, With an eye to the future, the Target, Ikea, Oneida, Wal-Mart, and GPA board crafted its 2015 Plan, Heineken. a $1.4 billion capital improveAtop a Garden City Terminal ment strategy, to assure that, crane, an operator peers down along with the channel deepenthrough steel mesh from a 367ing of Savannah, Georgia’s port foot tower, from a unit certified facilities will continue to keep to lift 65 tons at a time. Here, pace with change in the shipping Super Panamax ships — curindustry. rently the largest at the port The Port of Savannah figured — are unloaded in little more prominently in studies prethan one container per minute. pared for the 25th annual Specialized automobile transporters, called Georgia Economic Outlook Roro ships, deliver new cars to the Port meeting of more than 1,000 of Brunswick’s Colonel’s Island Terminal, executives in December where 368,351 vehicles and pieces of 2007, where Terry College machinery — including BMW, Volkswagen Dean Robert Sumichrast and Porsche— arrived on U.S. shores in FY joined Gov. Sonny Perdue 08. Both the Savannah and Brunswick ports and David Wyss, chief econoare among the most highly automated and Terry College oF inFOGraPHic: cHriS taylOr Business Fall 2008 • 33
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