1945 The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is by an act of the Georgia legislatu Garden City Terminal, 1955 1969 Construction begins on Container Berth 1 at Garden City Terminal 1985 The Port of Savannah is as old — if not older — than the city that was established in 1733, when Gen. James Oglethorpe and 114 colonists landed on what was then known as Yamacraw Bluff. When they arrived, they found Mary Musgrove, daughter of an English trader and a Creek Indian, already running a thriving trading post on the site. Before long, with Musgrove’s help, the new settlers were soon sending deerskin, leather, indigo, pork, lumber and rice across the Atlantic; as well as importing many of the items needed for their survival. Through the years, Savannah attracted worldwide attention as a leading cotton-shipping port in the era leading up to the Civil War and again in 1918, when the S.S. Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, sailing from Savannah to Liverpool, England in 29 days. The port also played a prominent role in World War II, as one of the nation’s most active Atlantic shipyards for the construction of Liberty Ship transports. Today, the port on the bluff where Mary Musgrove once traded is now the third-busiest contain- er gateway, the fastest-growing and single largest container terminal in the country, accounting for nearly 10 percent of Georgia’s economy. It has been an unprecedented transition, one that began in 1945 when the Georgia Legislature, anticipating the post-World War II economic boom, created the Georgia Ports Authority, with control over the deepwater ports in both Savannah and Brunswick. The GPA’s purpose was — and remains — to operate state-owned port facilities and “to do any other things necessary or proper to foster or encourage the commerce of the state, the United States of America or of the several sister states.” 1987 Mayor’s Point Terminal joins the lineup of terminals at the Port of Brunswick. GPA acquires Brunswick Port Authority. 2006 First fiscal year GPA moved more than 2 million TEUs. The COSCO Development, the first 13,000-TEU and largest containership at the time to ever call on the U.S. East Coast, welcomed at the Port of Savannah. 2017 GPA receives $44M FAST grant from U.S. Department of Transportation to build the Mason Mega Rail. 2016 The MOL Benefactor is the first 10,000-TEU vessel to call on Savannah, passing through the new locks of the expanded Panama Canal. At 14,000+ TEUs, the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt calls the Port of Savannah. Mason Mega Rail Groundbreaking Appalachian Regional Port Grand Opening 2018
