The Georgia Ports Authority has pushed its US$1.6 billion redevelopment of Savannah's Ocean Terminal past the 60% completion mark, with the facility's new 2,650-foot berth finished and ready to receive large vessels.

The berth milestone is the headline number in a project that will lift Ocean Terminal's annual container capacity from 200,000 TEUs to 1.75 million TEUs — an eight-and-a-half-fold increase — when the full build-out wraps at the end of 2028. For carriers and BCOs routing through Savannah, the second-largest container port complex on the US East Coast, the expansion signals a substantial addition of berth and yard capacity in a market where vessel sizes on Asia–US East Coast strings continue to climb.

"Ocean Terminal is a major part of our strategy to prepare Savannah for future growth. The renovated berth is fully completed and ready for big ships," said Griff Lynch, CEO of Georgia Ports Authority.

Despite the finished berth, GPA will keep handling smaller vessels at Ocean Terminal for now. The first phase of the renovated container yard is expected to come online by mid-autumn 2027, with the entire yard project scheduled for completion by the end of 2028. That sequencing matters for ocean planners: big-ship calls on the upgraded berth will only translate into sustained capacity gains once the yard behind it can absorb the box volumes.

Truck gate fully operational

Landside, the project has already delivered a key piece. Ocean Terminal's truck gate is now fully operational, equipped with 12 inbound and six outbound lanes.

GPA has also funded a US$29 million overpass that directs trucks from Ocean Terminal to US 17 and Interstate 16, letting departing port traffic bypass nearby neighbourhood streets. For drayage operators and inland carriers, the new configuration should trim turn times and cut congestion on local roads — a recurring friction point as Savannah's volumes have grown.

"Transforming a 200-acre terminal while keeping the port operating is a tremendous undertaking, and the progress at Ocean Terminal is a testament to the hard work of our GPA team and our partners," said Alec Poitevint, Board Chairman of Georgia Ports Authority.

A US$5 billion decade ahead

The Ocean Terminal rebuild is one component of a far larger capital programme. Over the next ten years, Georgia Ports plans to invest US$5 billion in capacity improvements, including five additional container berths in Savannah and a new RoRo berth in Brunswick.

The Brunswick berth extends GPA's push beyond containers into the roll-on/roll-off trade, where the port has built a leading position in US vehicle and machinery imports.

For shippers and forwarders, the trajectory is clear: GPA is betting that demand through Savannah will keep rising and is positioning capacity ahead of it. With the Ocean Terminal yard phased in through 2027 and 2028 and five more berths in the pipeline, Savannah's ability to absorb additional services — and to keep pressure off East Coast rate spreads through berth availability — looks set to strengthen materially over the decade.