Savannah, GA – July 31, 2006 – The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced today fiscal year end results with all key business sectors reporting positive growth for the year.

The Port of Savannah handled 2,041,789 Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit containers (TEUs) in FY06, an increase of 15.9 percent from the previous year. Total GPA intermodal rail lifts also rose 23.1 percent for the year further increasing Georgia’s reach into expanding markets.

Auto and machinery units handled by the GPA totaled 376,446, an increase of 8.2 percent. A record 368,475 units were handled at the Colonel’s Island Terminal alone.
“For the first time in our history, the Georgia Ports Authority surpassed 2 million TEUs in a single year,” said Former United States Senator Mack Mattingly, Chairman of GPA’s Board of Directors. “We appreciate all of the hard work the men and women of Georgia’s ports are doing to make our ports and our economy outpace the rest of the Southeast.”

“As our market share continues to climb, the importance of Georgia’s ports on the state, regional and national economies also climbs,” said Doug J. Marchand, GPA’s Executive Director. “With an aggressive expansion program in place we are confident this growth in our major business sectors will continue.”

Highlights from FY06 (July 2005 – June 2006) include:

• The completion of Phase One of Container Berth 8, part of the largest single container facility in the USA.
  
  
• The GPA Board of Directors approved an $82.6 million capital improvement program which will include four Super Post-Panamax Cranes, 15 Rubber-Tired Gantry Cranes, and numerous other container yard and auto processing improvements.
  
  
• An ambitious rail expansion program was approved that will increase rail capacity at the Port of Brunswick by 100 percent.
  
  
• Both Target and IKEA announced a total of four million additional square feet of distribution space at the Savannah International Trade Park, four miles from the Garden City Terminal at the Port of Savannah.
  
  
• Several new shipping services were added at the Port of Savannah, a 20-year agreement with Maersk Line and a 15-year agreement with CMA CGM were signed.

Georgia’s deepwater ports and inland barge terminals support more than 275,968 jobs throughout the state annually and contribute $10.8 billion in income, $35.4 billion in revenue and some $1.4 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s bustling economy.

Visit the GPA web site at www.gaports.com.