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Price tag to spruce up business park may exceeed $3 million
Tourism director resigns
SandyWhiteOffice2
Liberty County Tourism Director and Hinesville Downtown Development Director Sandy White is resigning.
The Liberty County Development Authority has taken a look at preliminary plans for landscaping and signs for its east Liberty industrial park, at an estimated cost of $3.5 million.
But all that cost shouldn’t be paid by the taxpayers. Private industrial developer and recruiter IDI, landscape designers, tenants and partners of the LCDA will pay part of the cost and the authority hopes other partners and neighbors will also help.
IDI said the plan is still very much a work in progress and its employees’ presentation last month was the first one to the LCDA, and for the purpose of getting input for future design work.
The preliminary plans include three, 20-foot high obelisks. Other plans include plantings of loblolly pines, magnolias, crepe myrtles and a variety of grasses. Native plants will be used as much possible; ones that require as little water and fertilizer as possible.
All the authority’s business did not involve cost, however. The authority’s revenue projection includes nearly $8 million to be realized from land sales.
The members hope to start the sales soon with the marketing of a piece of land LCDA owns in Walthourville near the Liberty County Airport.
Also slated for sale are parcels in Allenhurst, Midway and Riceboro.
The authority’s revenue report also shows $77,620 in miscellaneous income, but members were not entirely happy with that item. It represents half of the agreed price for some structural steel that LCDA has owned — and paid to store — for years.
The steel was purchased for a spec building to have been erected where Hugo Boss is now located. When Hugo Boss decided to invest in the Midway Industrial Park, the authority decided not to put up the spec building and eventually ended up paying $1,900 monthly to store the steel at Canoochee Creek.
The authority eventually decided to sell the steel and found a buyer who offered $150,000. This was to be paid in two installments and the steel to be removed to save the storage costs.
The first installment was paid, and the second has now been paid, but the steel remains at Canoochee Creek and the LCDA is looking at two more months of storage fees.
LCDA attorney Kelly Davis had the buyer sign a new agreement to remove the steel within 60 days.
The authority received the report on their annual independent audit performed by Karp, Ronning and Tindol, CPAs of Savannah.
The auditors found no material weaknesses in LCDA’s operations and member Brian Smith, executive vice president of the Heritage Bank, described the report as “a clean audit.”
Authority Director of Finance and Administration Carmen Cole presented a letter from SunTrust Bank providing more detail on the $30 million to be borrowed to pay for the LCDA state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant at the megapark.
Suntrust remains committed to the project and said it would loan the $30 million in three segments, $10 million each this year, in 2007, 2008 and in 2009.
The authority decided to borrow the $30 million last month in a rare split vote, with County Commission Chairman John McIver voting no.
Along with Hinesville, the county, Flemington and the authority beginning to form a new body for tourism, Downtown Development and Tourism Director Sandy White told the LCDA she is resigning.
White and her husband have sold a commercial building they owned, and she said she plans to pursue hobbies for a while.
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GPA grows trade, market share
Intermodal volume up 20 percent
port photo
Rubber tired gantry cranes handle cargo at the Chatham Intermodal Container Transfer Facility at the Port of Savannah. The Georgia Ports Authority's Mason Mega Rail project will double rail lift capacity to 1 million containers per year by 2020 - photo by Provided

The Georgia Ports Authority achieved 14 percent growth in March container volumes, moving 355,208 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers.

From July 2017 to March, TEU container trade grew by 9 percent, or 255,786 additional units for a total of 3.08 million, a new record for Savannah.

"Savannah's continued strength is a reflection of our customers' commitment, Georgia's leadership, and the many dedicated service providers, GPA employees and ILA members who come together every day to achieve great things," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "March marked our 17th consecutive month of business expansion thanks, in part, to a strong economy and growing market share."

Intermodal rail volumes jumped by 20 percent in March and 15.4 percent for the fiscal year to date, for a total of 318,454 containers handled over nine months – another record for the GPA.

"As the numbers show, our rail cargo is growing at a faster pace than our overall trade," GPA Chairman Jimmy Allgood said. "This is important because rail is playing a key role in our responsible growth strategy. We anticipate our rail infrastructure investments to take 250,000 trucks off the road each year by 2020."

The GPA recently broke ground on its Mason Mega Rail Terminal, on which the Port of Savannah will build 10,000-foot unit trains within its own footprint. From the expanded rail infrastructure at Garden City Terminal, Class I rail providers CSX and Norfolk Southern will provide direct rail service to major Southeast and Midwestern markets from Memphis to St. Louis, Chicago to Cincinnati.

An added benefit is that the Mason Mega Rail project will move all rail switching on terminal – improving vehicle traffic flow around the port.

In August, the GPA will open its Appalachian Regional Port in Murray County. Located in an industrial belt, including the production and export of carpet and flooring, automobiles and tires, the ARP will provide an alternative to all-truck transit to Northwest Georgia.

Each round-trip container moved via the Appalachian Regional Port will offset 710 truck miles on Georgia highways.

March was also a strong month for roll-on/roll-off auto and machinery units at the Port of Brunswick and Ocean Terminal in Savannah. Colonel's Island Terminal in Brunswick handled 66,144 cars, trucks and tractors, while Ocean Terminal added 4,050, for a total 70,194, a 17.2 percent increase.

"The global economy is thriving and our volumes are following suit," Lynch said. "As existing accounts grow their footprint in the expanding auto facility in Brunswick, Georgia's competitive logistical advantages are drawing additional business across all of our docks."

Lynch noted that for the fiscal year to date, Mayor's Point breakbulk terminal in Brunswick grew by 44 percent (34,515 tons) to reach 112,728 tons of forest products. At East River Terminal, bulk cargo expanded by 34 percent July-March (189,918 tons) for a total of 750,384 tons.

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