Shippers worried that the trade war between the U.S. and China could escalate in 2019 helped cargo volumes at Georgia’s busy seaports reach record levels last year, the state’s top ports executive said Tuesday.
In spite of new tariffs imposed by the two countries last year, the Port of Savannah saw containerized cargo – goods from consumer electronics to frozen chickens shipped in large metal boxes – jump 7.5 percent to a record 4.34 million container units in 2018.
The Georgia Ports Authority also reported that overall cargo at its seaports in Savannah and Brunswick increased 5.3 percent to nearly 37 million tons (33.5 million metric tons), another record.
Griff Lynch, the port authority’s executive director, said in an interview Tuesday that much of the past year’s growth was fueled by a strong economy. Trade was already booming at the Savannah port, which in 2017 became only the fourth U.S. port to handle more than 4 million container units in a single year.
Lynch also credited a “rush of cargo” triggered by the U.S.-China tariff duel.