Georgia politicians urge study to deepen Savannah's harbor

All of Georgia's members of Congress have signed a letter that supports studying another round of deepening the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Every member of Congress from Georgia signed a letter calling for a study to determine whether the busy shipping channel to the Port of Savannah needs to be deepened again after a $937 million harbor expansion was just completed in 2022.

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock's office released a copy Tuesday of the letter sent to top-ranking members of the House and Senate committees that would handle legislation to authorize a study.

The Georgia Ports Authority is pushing for Congress to consider another round of deepening Savannah's shipping channel. The agency's leaders say ever-growing classes of cargo ships need deeper water to reach the port with full loads at lower tides — even though less than two years has passed since the Army Corps of Engineers finished the last project that added 5 feet (1.5 meters) of depth to the waterway.

Savannah has the fourth-busiest U.S. seaport for cargo shipped in containers, giant metal boxes used to transport goods ranging from consumer electronics to frozen chickens. Savannah handled 4.9 million container units of imports and exports in the 2023 calendar year.

The letter signed by Georgia's two Democratic senators and each of its House members — nine Republicans and five Democrats — argues that “we cannot sit back” as increasing percentages of ships arriving at Savannah have to wait for higher tides to reach the port.