A Georgia seaport becomes the largest US automobile port, surpassing Baltimore

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Port of Brunswick rode double-digit growth to become the top U.S. seaport for automobiles last year, Georgia officials said Wednesday, surpassing the Port of Baltimore after it shut down for weeks following a deadly bridge collapse.

Georgia Ports Authority CEO Griff Lynch made the announcement during a luncheon speech in Brunswick, a small coastal city of 15,000 that state officials have turned into a leading gateway for automobile imports and exports as well as farm and construction equipment.

Brunswick's port moved 841,000 cars and trucks across its docks in the 2024 calendar year. That's an increase of more than 13% over the previous year. Lynch said the boom coincided with $262 million in improvements completed last fall that expanded Brunswick's capacity for processing and storing autos.

''That's huge. I can't believe it myself,'' Lynch said in a phone interview after his speech. He added: ''This is one of those 'If you build it, they will come' situations.''

The Port of Baltimore led the U.S. in automobile imports and exports for more than a decade. But its total dropped 11% last year to fewer than 750,000 autos, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.

The steep drop followed the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last March, which shut down Baltimore's shipping channel for weeks. Trade was slowed as the waterway reopened in phases before being fully cleared in June.

In 2023, Baltimore handled a record 847,000 autos.

''We are quite certain that, if not for the Key Bridge incident, we would've had another record year last year,'' Scher said in an email.

The Port of Brunswick often gets overshadowed by its larger sister port in Savannah, the fourth-busiest in the U.S. for retail goods and other commodities shipped in containers.

But Georgia officials have invested heavily in Brunswick, where Lynch said recent upgrades and expansions have caused automakers to shift business to Georgia from neighboring ports such as Charleston, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.

He noted that heavy equipment shipments jumped 160% in the past year to nearly 29,000 units as Brunswick added facilities to install accessories and perform other on-site customization to imported farm and construction equipment.

The Port of Brunswick plans further upgrades in the coming years. A new berth built for docking larger car-carrying ships is being designed and should open in 2027, Lynch said. The port is also building a new railyard that will ultimately triple its capacity for using trains to deliver cars for export.

Meanwhile, Georgia port officials are looking to Washington to fund improvements to Brunswick's shipping channel. The Army Corps of Engineers wants to widen portions of the waterway to give ships more room to turn after the South Korean freighter Golden Ray tipped over while leaving the port in 2019. Lynch said maintenance dredging is also needed to return the channel to its proper depth of up to 38 feet (11.5 meters) .

''Clearly, Baltimore was handicapped'' last year, Lynch said. ''We don't want to take advantage of that. So we'll see if we maintain it in 2025.''