SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Georgia officials picked up a key congressional endorsement Monday as they seek a federal study on whether the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah should be deepened again following a harbor expansion that was completed in 2022 and cost nearly $1 billion.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said during a visit to the port that he supports authorizing the study as part of a sprawling infrastructure bill being drafted in his committee.
“One of those things that we want to make sure is a priority is further expansion of the port here in Savannah,” Graves told port employees and reporters as cranes unloaded a large ship at the dock. “It’s a priority of mine to get this study done.”
Less than two years have passed since the Army Corps of Engineers finished the last project, which added 5 feet (1.5 meters) of depth to the stretch of the Savannah River connecting the port to the Atlantic Ocean. The expansion cost state and federal taxpayers $937 million.
The Georgia Ports Authority has been pushing for Congress to consider another round of deepening Savannah’s shipping channel. The agency’s leaders say ever-growing classes of enormous cargo ships need even deeper water to be able to reach the port with full loads during lower tides.