Can Savannah expand its port 170 miles inland?

CORDELE, Ga. — Officials here have a novel ambition for a city 160 miles from the ocean, namely becoming a port.

For seven years, they have educated leaders in state government and the transportation industry — having to restart the process when leaders changed. They explain that Cordele can be more than the Watermelon Capital of the World by developing an inland port the way Front Royal, Va., did 15 years ago.

Front Royal is about the same distance from Norfolk, Va., as Cordele is from Savannah, and both cities enjoy the intersection of multiple rail lines and a major interstate highway. Even better, one of the railroads is a closed-loop shortline whose short distance means trains moving from the port to the inland port will always have first priority without having to be sidetracked while long-distance trains pass.

"We're doing something that's a proven concept," said Bruce Drennan, executive director of the Crisp County Industrial Development Council in Cordele.

Drennan estimates that within five years, Cordele could add 2,500 jobs and handle 150,000 containers of cargo per year — including as many as 75,000 that aren't being shipped out of Savannah now.

By piggybacking on Cordele's location, Savannah port officials will be able to better compete for freight currently shipping out of ports on the Gulf Coast since rail moves four containers for the price of trucking just one. The inland port will add to the capacity of the Port of Savannah rather than drawing any economic activity away from the Coastal Empire.

"We won't be taking any jobs from them," he said. "Basically, what it will do is improve the throughput of the port."

That's the view, too, from Savannah. Lynn Pitts, senior vice president of the Savannah Economic Authority, figures more business for the port translates into more business for Savannah.

"If you're sitting here paying the note on a $500,000 spec warehouse that you're hoping some port user will move into, you don't want to hear about it," he said. "But from a community point of view and looking at the excess capacity at the port today, I don't see it as a 'threat' to Savannah. ... There'll be some warehouse jobs that will locate there, but we'll get our fair share."

Plus, a rail-fed inland port will reduce truck traffic, Pitts said, that will improve conditions for local motorists and cut diesel emissions in Garden City.

The plan hinges on cooperation from CSX railroad in working with the Central of Georgia and Heart of Georgia railroads that would move the freight directly west to Cordele. CSX controls the final mile linking the port to Central of Georgia's railhead.

To sweeten the deal, Cordele officials have picked a 1,200 acre site adjacent to a CSX line, so the inland port might not take business away from CSX.

Just five months ago, CSX got its own, enhanced railyard for expediting port freight a short distance from the port. Now the Jacksonville-based railroad schedules 28 trains serving Savannah, including three each day just running between the port and the new railyard.

CSX isn't worried about losing any Savannah business to Cordele, said Gary Sease, spokesman CSX. But there still isn't a solid deal yet.

"It's still in a discussion phase," he said. "We are having discussions about that but there is no firm commitment yet because we have a lot of details to work out."

If CSX is lukewarm to the idea, state officials are entirely behind it. At its last monthly meeting, the board of the Department of Transportation gave Drennan a green light, partly because the state owns the rails the Heart of Georgia leases and shares in the revenue.

"We believe this will be a very viable and very valuable enhancement to the state's logistics infrastructure and its economy in general," said David Spear, press secretary to the DOT.

The Transportation Department just began drafting its own statewide rail plan with the idea of finding other ways to move freight from trucks to trains.

The Georgia Ports Authority sees benefits, as well.

"The GPA will help market the facility and looks to expanding the reach for the Port of Savannah and creating as much economic impact for that part of the state as possible," said Doug Marchand GPA executive director.