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Sanitation workers pull holiday shifts
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Like police, fire and hospital personnel and active-duty military members, city and county sanitation crews work while most residents are home with their families and friends on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
These government employees brave winter temperatures when hauling off discarded holiday wrapping paper and boxes, not to mention the remnants of New Year’s Eve parties.
Hinesville sanitation department supervisor Rodney Edwards said his employees work “every holiday of the year.” The city contracts with CH2MHill/OMI for sanitation and parks and grounds services, along with street, fleet and drainage maintenance.
“We have a crew of 16 people during the holidays,” Edwards said. “We have a nine-man crew that picks up the household garbage (via poly carts). A five-man crew picks up yard waste and dry trash (junk). Then we have a crew of two that picks up just the dry trash (junk, boxes, etc.).”
Liberty County’s solid-waste authority maintains a crew of 12, according to Kathy Poole, Liberty County Solid Waste Authority administrative financial manager. Poole said the cost to haul off trash does not increase that much during the holidays.
“We generally see an increase in our recyclable cardboard and household trash,” she said. The trash itself tends to be lightweight, Poole said.
She said the county experiences increased traffic at its seven rural collections sites. Collection sites in Liberty County are at:
• 344 Fort Morris Road in Sunbury
• 25 South Dairy Road in Gum Branch
• 156 Pate Rogers Road in Fleming
• 836 Limerick Road near Lake George
• Highway 84 at Miller Park
• 619 J.V. Road west of Hinesville
• 50 Isle of Wight Road near Midway
“Like most work forces, we are challenged to meet work demands in spite of reduced working hours and employee vacation leave,” Poole said.  “Our operational challenge is working around the reduced hours of the landfill in Wayne County, where our waste is hauled.”
“During the holidays there is always extra trash, probably due to guests coming in town and people have extra food, and they like to clean their yards up so that it will be presentable to their guests,” Edwards said. “Whatever the case may be, we help people out on the holidays by dumping extra containers — but only for the holidays. Any other time, we only dump city-approved containers.”
Edwards said the Christmas holiday is the “heaviest” time of the year for trash.
“Residents are throwing out the old things when getting ready for Christmas,” he said. “We also go to the door on the holidays if we see the poly cart and the resident has forgotten to put it out for the holiday to try and help them out a bit. If it’s in the back yard, and we don’t see it, we will still go back to the house if they call the office the next day and tell them that they simply forgot to put the trash out. We don’t mind helping out. After all, Hinesville’s trash is our job security.”  
The city of Hinesville provides residents one numbered 90-gallon roll-out cart and weekly pick-up service. In addition, the city will repair or replace damaged roll-out carts, according to cityofhinesville.org.

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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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