Ocean cargo throughput means jobs

As noted in today’s news section, the ports of Southern California are reporting a new surge in throughput. Fortunately, this is becoming a consistent pattern at most of the nation’s major ocean cargo gateways. In the end, it could mean a spike in related employment.

For example, Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz announced today the GPA experienced growth in November 2010, which is consistent with the double-digit growth rates that have been experienced since December 2009

“The Port of Savannah experienced moderate gains in November, following FY2011’s very strong peak season,” said GPA’s Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz. “We remain cautiously optimistic about future volumes through the ports and continue to prepare for larger vessels, currently calling on the U.S. East Coast.”

The Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal handled 124,348 containers or 222,281 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), representing increases of 12.5 percent and 11.5 percent respectively. Fiscal year 2011 overall container volume to date (July – October 2010) reflects a 19.1-percent increase compared with the same time period in FY2010.

At the Port of Brunswick, the Colonel’s Island Terminal handled 39,222 auto units in November 2010, which is an increase of 34.6 percent compared with November 2009.

And perhaps the biggest story of all is that Savannah will see 100 new jobs by 2011, due to the sale of a 689,400 square-foot distribution center in DP Partner’s LogistiPort Industrial Park to JLA Home. JLA is a global virtually integrated company specializing in home furnishing products and is a welcome addition to a growing distribution market that has become one of the main service hubs of the Southeast.