Trade through Georgia’s ports also helps to support government services, yielding $10 billion in federal taxes, $3 billion in state taxes, and $3 billion in local taxes annually.

Port activity in Georgia now supports nearly 651,000 full- and part-time jobs across the Peach State, according to an economic impact study by the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. The statewide number has grown by 41,770 jobs or 7 percent compared to Fiscal Year 2023, the period covered by the previous study. Georgia ports now help sustain 12 percent of total state employment, according to the study.

The nation’s busiest gateways for containerized trade

The Port of Savannah is one of the nation’s busiest gateways for containerized trade, moving 5.7 million twenty-foot equivalent container units in fiscal year 2025, which ended June 30. The Port of Brunswick, the nation’s busiest port for autos and heavy equipment, handled 870,775 units of autos and heavy equipment in FY2025. 

Top three export commodity groups 

GPA’s top three export commodity groups for the study period were forest products, food and automotive cargo. The top imports were machinery, retail goods and furniture.

According to the new findings, the statewide economic impact of Georgia’s deepwater ports in fiscal year 2024 includes:

$174 billion in sales, accounting for 11 percent of Georgia’s total sales, an increase of 2 percent or $3 billion compared to FY2023.
$77 billion in state GDP, or 9 percent of Georgia’s total GDP, up 7 percent or $5 billion compared to FY2023.
$43 billion in income, amounting to 7 percent of Georgia’s total personal income, an increase of 7.5 percent or $3 billion compared to FY2023.

Support government services,

Trade through Georgia’s ports also helps to support government services, yielding $10 billion in federal taxes, $3 billion in state taxes, and $3 billion in local taxes annually.

The terminal improvements Georgia Ports

Poitevint noted the terminal improvements Georgia Ports is making to support growth are self-financed through port proceeds and do not rely on taxpayers. The Port of Savannah handles 35 weekly vessel services, 14,000-16,000 truck moves per day and 42 double-stack trains per week. The Port of Brunswick became the nation’s busiest gateway for autos and heavy equipment in 2024, moving 901,000 units of Roll-on/Roll-off cargo.

The UGA study,

The UGA study, “The Economic Impact of Georgia’s Deepwater Ports on Georgia’s Economy in FY 2024” is the latest in a series of similar studies conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth. Discover more about GPA’s county-by-county economic impact at gaports.com/more-impact.

About Georgia Ports

Georgia’s Ports in Savannah and Brunswick are strategic gateways, creating the most competitive supply chains in the nation with their level of operations, connectivity and supply chain ecosystem. These attributes combined with Georgia’s ranking as the top state to do business for 12 consecutive years create a very unique business model for growth. 

The Port of Savannah is one of the best-connected ports in the U.S. to world markets with 35 ship calls a week, 42 doublestack trains per week and 14,000 truck gate moves daily. 

The Port of Brunswick

The Port of Brunswick is the top U.S. RoRo port for automotive and machinery logistics with over $262 million in recent upgrades and a new $100 million fourth berth being built.  GPA has a self-financed $4.5 billion investment plan for the next ten years which will see five new big ship berths added in Savannah and a fourth berth in Brunswick to meet future growth. In the past decade, GPA has invested $3.2 billion in infrastructure improvements

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