The Port of Savannah on the southeast coast of Georgia is one of the busiest in the country– and it’s continuing to grow.
In 2020, the port introduced new developments to increase efficiency, and more are still to come.
Last year, the port added three new ship-to-shore cranes, giving it a total of 34. With this number of cranes, Savannah’s Garden City Terminal can serve 15,000-plus TEU vessels more efficiently, said Robert Morris, chief communications officer for the Georgia Ports Authority.
TEU vessels are “20-foot equivalent units,” or the standard size of the rectangular, multi-colored shipping containers you might see by any port.
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According to the Small Business Administration, 95% of the world’s consumers live outside the United States and represent two-thirds of the world’s purchasing power. U.S. companies that export enjoy business success with increased sales and profit potential.
Exporting is of local interest because, over the past three years, Georgia’s exporting volume has risen 15%, and 87% of exporters in Georgia are small businesses, according to Terri Dennison, who is the Georgia district director at the Small Business Administration.
“As a small business, you’re always looking for that next opportunity,” Dennison said. “Perhaps exporting can be one of those new opportunities for your business.”
While it’s commonly-known that Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport is the busiest in the world on a daily basis, the port of Savannah is also the fastest-growing port in the country. Savannah’s Garden City Terminal is the largest container staging area in the country, coming in at 1,345 acres.
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Small business owners might hear exporting and think of it as an avenue reserved for large corporations, but that’s not quite the case.
In regard to using the port’s growth for business owners’ benefit, the SBA awarded Georgia’s Department of Economic Development a STEP grant recently, which stands for State Trade Expansion Program. Those funds are designated to support small businesses by cutting the costs of attending trade shows or alleviating education costs for small businesses owners wanting to learn more about how exporting can be a viable option for them.
For more information on how small business owners can access these funds or to learn more about the prospect of using the state’s growing export industry, contact the Small Business Administration at SBA.gov or emailing them at Georgia@SBA.gov.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
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