ATLANTA - As business at the Savannah port booms, state lawmakers are looking inland for a way to head off congestion, make distribution from the facility more efficient and increase capacity.

Before adjourning last month, the Senate approved the creation of a seven-member study committee to discuss the possibility of an inland transfer port. Sen. Joseph Carter, R-Tifton, sponsored the resolution.

"With our Georgia ports being as busy as they are, we're trying to look at any way we can to expand their capacity," said Mr. Carter, who serves as one of Gov. Sonny Perdue's floor leaders in the Senate.

Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, co-sponsored the resolution creating the study committee. But he said he only did so because it involved the port and was unfamiliar with the inland facility idea.

For their part, Georgia Port Authority officials are remaining neutral.

"We welcome the Senate study committee and look forward to providing them all the information they need," said Robert Morris, the authority's external affairs director.

The authority is currently expanding the Savannah port's intermodal rail facilities. Containers are transported by rail to transfer stations in Atlanta before heading to their final destinations.

Mr. Morris said the port's rail traffic is increasing quicker than truck traffic, but the port still is investing in technology upgrades to get trucks moving through the gates quicker.

A possible intermodal terminal built farther inland could make it cheaper to send imported goods to some parts of the states compared with the current system, according to a report released in January from the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Using Cordele as a test case for an inland port, the researchers found that the cost savings to send containers by rail for part of the way before switching over to trucks varied depending on the final destination.

"Depending on the oil pressure and the cost of moving that same container on the rail, it could save a company shipping a container," said Robert Lann, the institute's manager of research services who worked on the study.

A 2006 report from the institute looked at a hypothetical inland port somewhere along Interstate 16, such as Macon, Dublin or Vidalia, and concluded that it would not save money over the current system.

The study did suggest that a different type of inland terminal in middle Georgia, where empty cargo containers could be dropped off and picked up by trucks, could be beneficial.

That type of facility would address the problem of empty containers that come and go - an estimated 1,000 each day - at the Savannah ports, which can contribute to potential bottlenecks.

While it would be more efficient to transfer containers somewhere else in the state, the Georgia Tech researchers acknowledged it would be a hard sell to the shipping lines, which are reluctant to share containers with other companies.

Similar facilities in North Carolina work because they are limited to swapping out containers for only a few shippers so the empty containers stay with the same companies. Mr. Carter said he envisions the legislative committee pulling together the existing reports, information and input from ports officials in both Savannah and Brunswick.

Under the resolution, the committee would be required to issue its report, including any suggestions for proposed bills, by year's end.

Reach Vicky Eckenrode at (678) 977-4601 or vicky.eckenrode@morris.com.