Savannah was the first South Atlantic port to make such a commitment. In 1969, construction started on Con- tainer Berth 1 at the GPA’s Garden City Terminal. In 1972, that first container terminal opened, and the announce- ment was made that a second terminal was in the works. As the Garden City facility expanded, adding terminals and cranes, the shipping world took notice. The American New York, then the larg- est container ship in the world, docked in Savannah in 1984. Its capacity was 4,600 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent container units). Today’s container ships tower over that. In this, the Post- Panamax era (referring to the expan- sion of the Panama Canal), nautical behemoths regularly call on Savannah: • July 13, 2016 – The MOL Benefactor, with a capacity of 10,100 TEUs, docked at the Garden City Terminal; • May 12, 2017 – The COSCO Development, with a capacity of 13,000 TEUs, called on Savannah; • Sept. 1, 2017 – The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, at 14,414 TEUs the largest container ship to serve the East Coast, berthed at the Garden City Terminal. The importance of container shipping cannot be overstated. An estimated 90 percent of global trade is seaborne. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY ON ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY! Thank you for your commitment and continued dedication to the growth of the intermodal Industry. The GPA is a leader in the industry. It’s the third-busiest container port in the United States. And last calendar year, the Port of Savannah moved 4.6 mil- lion TEUs, an increase of 5.6 percent over 2018. That accomplishment is “a testament to the trust our customers and stakeholders place in our abili- ty to deliver reliable, on-time service, every day,” GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said. Malcom McLean, whose long wait at the docks launched all this, died in 2001. But he didn’t pass without notice. Fortune Magazine placed him in its Business Hall of Fame in 1982; American Heritage magazine named him one of the 10 Innovators of the Past 40 Years in 1995; and the International Maritime Hall of Famed honored him as the Man of the Century in 1999. WWW.TRACINTERMODAL.COM Sources: Savannah Morning News editions and publications; New York Times editions and video; gaports.com; and several Web sources, including https://hbswk.hbs.edu and https://www.freightwaves.com. 20TRAC0005_GeorgiaPorts_AD.indd 1 2020-01-29 8:11 AM
