Supersized cargo ships will need deeper water and a taller bridge to reach the Port of Savannah in the near future, the chief executive overseeing the major U.S. seaport said Thursday.
Griff Lynch, president and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, said during his annual “State of the Ports” speech that the $1.9 billion his agency is investing to grow Savannah’s cargo handling capacity will need to be met with taxpayer-funded infrastructure upgrades.
Lynch said his agency is seeking congressional authorization to study another round of deepening for the Savannah River shipping channel. The Army Corps of Engineers last year finished deepening the waterway by 5 feet (1.5 meters), a $973 million project that took 25 years to study and execute.
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