The Port of Savannah is blowing up. Behind only Los Angeles and beating stalwarts like New York / New Jersey, Long Beach and Norfolk, the port of Georgia's fairest city handled more than 6.8 million tons of containerized exports in fiscal year 2011. Atlanta business leaders and Mayor Kasim Reed are among the Port of Savannah's biggest supporters, arguing that building Georgia's presence in the import/export business is good for the entire state (Atlanta included), if not the entire region, because vibrant ports often spur economic development in the areas that surround them. With the Panama Canal expansion project due to be completed in 2015, the East Coast of the United States is expected to see tremendous growth in cargo traffic. Savannah is poised to be among the biggest beneficiaries of that growth. Hmm...what could the Atlanta metro area do to avail itself of some of the benefits of this growth?
· Savannah's port now #2 in U.S. for exports [Atlanta Business Chronicle]
· Atlanta leaders push for deeper Savannah port [AJC]
· Savannah: Keeping Up [Georgia Trend]