Posted on February 14, 2025
Officials from the Port of Brunswick announced during the yearly State of the Port address that the harbour that processes more than 500,000 cars a year is now the country’s top port for autos and heavy machinery. The Port of Brunswick handled more than two million tons of roll on/roll off cargo in 2024.
Last year, the Port also completed more than $260 million worth of improvements, including warehousing and processing space and 122 acres of RoRo cargo storage.
“Our vision is to design, build and operate the #1 RoRo port in the world with our customers and partners,” said Georgia Port Authority Chairman Kent Fountain. “Across-the-board improvements in our shipping channel, berths, rail capacity, storage and processing capacity will help ensure that as their volumes grow, our customers will continue to enjoy world-class service and make long-term gains in their business.
“No other RoRo port in the nation offers the opportunity to scale up operations like Colonel’s Island, through our long-term commitments to infrastructure.”
While local officials celebrated the new feat, there could be major issues on the horizon.
U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock are seeking answers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding failures to perform planned dredging operations at the Brunswick Harbor.
The Port of Brunswick is a main player in Georgia’s economy, employing thousands and carrying a number of goods including paper products but most notably, auto vehicles. In 2024, Ossoff and Warnock provided $15 million in infrastructure upgrades at the Port of Brunswick.
Georgia Ports President and CEO Griff Lynch said the channel improvements are vital to ensuring the port is capable of handling larger vessels.
“The army corps and the federal government did not set the right budget,” Lynch said. “I am not trying to blame them. It is factual stuff. If that doesn’t get done, and it silts in, where are those ships going to go?”
A Ports press release states that Congress approved nearly $38 million for Brunswick, including a $11.35 million federal share of the harbor improvements project. Another $26.6 million, it says, is designated for dredging the federal waterway to its full authorized depth of 36 feet in the inner harbor, 38 feet in the outer harbor. The Ports release goes on to point out that the “federal funding and procurement process has fallen short for both the annual maintenance dredging and the harbor modification project.”
In a letter to Corps leadership, Sens. Ossoff and Rev. Warnock expressed concern over the Corps’ failure to dredge the Brunswick Harbor in a timely manner.
“The Corps’ failure to execute a basic mission with ample funding provided by Congress raises serious concerns about the Corps’ ability to effectively execute such projects in future years,” the senators wrote. “The Port of Brunswick is vital to Georgia’s economic growth and is poised to become the Nation’s busiest automotive port in the near future. The sustained success and future expansion of port operations relies on timely and effective dredging of the harbor.”
