From the ports to the rails to the nation’s busiest airport, the logistics industry is growing and thriving in Georgia. “We’ve had record-setting growth for the last five, six years now,” says Sandy Lake, director of logistics at the Georgia Center of Innovation, part of the state’s Department of Economic Development. “We keep breaking our own records or at least maintaining a level that is more than double than what we were pre-pandemic.”
Generating Business: Carl Campbell, Murray County Industrial Development Authority executive director. Photo credit: Kevin Garrett
The impact of that growth can be felt in every corner of the state. According to a 2021 report commissioned by the Center of Innovation, in partnership with the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, there are more than 32,000 logistics establishments in the state, employing more than 250,000 people and creating an $83.4 billion economic impact. The industry has also generated $2.2 billion in tax revenue for the state and $2.3 billion in tax revenue for local governments.
“We’re uniquely complete in our logistics between road, rail, air and ocean,” says Lake. This provides Georgia an advantage over other states in offering modal agility to manufacturers and shippers.
Attracting Companies and Jobs
Much of that supply chain agility can be attributed to the growth of the Georgia Ports Authority. Expansions include the deepening of the Port of Savannah in 2022 to allow for larger ships, $262 million in improvements to the Port of Brunswick and the opening of two inland ports in North Georgia.
The Appalachian Regional Port (ARP), located in Northwest Georgia in Murray County, opened in 2018.
CSX provides exclusive rail services on a direct, 388-mile route between the ARP and the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal. Each roundtrip container moved through the ARP offsets 710 truck miles. In all, the Appalachian Regional Port helps avoid 12.5 million truck miles per year on Georgia’s highways, according to GPA.
For example, instead of an all-day or overnight trip to Savannah with one container, a manufacturer in Dalton can put a container on a truck, drive it to the ARP, unload it and be back at the plant in less than 20 minutes, according to Carl Campbell, executive director of the Murray County Industrial Development Authority.
The ARP has an annual capacity of 75,000 containers, and there is a plan to double that within 10 years.
“It’s a whole lot more efficient from a company standpoint,” says Campbell. “From a driver’s standpoint, it’s a whole lot more desirable. So [the ARP] has been a really good additive piece to our logistics network.”
On the Move: Garden City Terminal is the largest and fastest-growing container terminal in North America. Photo credit: Georgia Ports Authority
Since its opening, several companies seeking close proximity to the inland port have chosen Murray County for their operations, including General Electric Appliances, Huali Floors and Green Galaxy Group, a Las Vegas manufacturing company.
The new GE Appliances facility was a $32 million investment and created 100 new jobs.
Murray County had never been a big player in industry recruitment before, but the port has changed that, according to Campbell. The county now has a 555-acre, GRAD-certified industrial park that county leaders are marketing to companies to grow investment and jobs.
While the inland port has already provided some economic impact, “the long-term impact of this has not yet been felt,” says Campbell. “It’s coming and we’re excited about it.”
A New Trade Route
A second inland port operated by the GPA is scheduled to open in 2026. Located in Gainesville, the Blue Ridge Connector will link the Port of Savannah to Northeast Georgia through exclusive rail service by Norfolk Southern and will have an annual lift capacity of 200,000 containers.
“We’re excited about what this does in terms of improving the business environment for our community and for the region,” says Tim Evans, president and CEO of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve heard from our existing industries that this really helps them solidify the business case for being here.”
Transporting Goods: Steve Syfan, co-founder of Syfan Logistics, a growing third-party logistics company. Photo credit: Daemon Baizan
Gainesville and Hall County have a high concentration of advanced manufacturing in several industries including pharmaceuticals, food processing, machinery and automotive. Many of these companies import parts and components and export finished goods through the Port of Savannah.
“[The Blue Ridge Connector] effectively creates a new trade route to move all of that product that can go by rail now and take a 350-mile rail route that replaces a 300-mile truck route,” Evans says.
With more than 300 companies in Hall County engaged in manufacturing and processing, representing nearly one-third of the county’s workforce, many local businesses will experience the benefits of the Blue Ridge Connector.
“From an economic development point of view, this is a piece of infrastructure that will be involved in creating wealth that’s turned over many times in the community, not just by those large industries, but by the small businesses that support them,” Evans says.
Shorter Trucking Routes
“The inland ports are a huge advantage,” says Steve Syfan, co-founder and executive vice president of Syfan Logistics. “We’ve seen it with the one near Cartersville and [the one] coming here in Gainesville. That advantage is to our customer in not only saving money but also saving time.”
Headquartered in Gainesville, Syfan Logistics is one of the state’s many third-party logistics companies transporting freight to and from the ports and to locations all across Georgia and beyond. The company specializes in transporting goods for the food, automotive and shipping industries.
In 2024, Syfan Logistics saw a 16% increase in load count, its biggest year in volume in the company’s four-decade history, and it also achieved its second highest year in revenue.
According to TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit organization, freight moved by trucks annually in Georgia is predicted to increase 67% by weight and 96% in value by 2050.
“We are doing a lot more volume on shorter miles, which economically is really good for the customer,” says Syfan.
New Prospects: Ryan Moore, president and CEO of the Golden Isles Development Authority, at the Port of Brunswick, which just this year became the nation’s busiest port for autos and heavy equipment. Photo credit: Eliot Vanotterren
When the Blue Ridge Connector opens in 2026, Syfan Logistics will do even more short-haul trucking. A portion of the freight that is currently transported by the company from the deepwater ports in Savannah and Brunswick will instead be picked up at the new inland port.
These shorter routes also benefit truck drivers. “We’re asset-based, and out of 100 drivers, there’s a higher number who would rather be home at night,” says Syfan. “So these short runs work really well for our drivers.”
Anticipating the Future
In Coastal Georgia, Glynn County is seeing new economic prospects being generated by the ports. The GPA recently made the decision to move all roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro), breakbulk and bulk product from Savannah to the Port of Brunswick.
In January, Wallenius Wilhelmsen cut the ribbon on its new state-of-the art facility in Brunswick. The Oslo-based carrier is one of the largest Ro/Ro carriers in the world, and it currently employs 518 people in Georgia.
“That was a direct result of that new roll-on, roll-off traffic coming down our way,” says Ryan Moore, president and CEO of the Golden Isles Development Authority. “We see more of that opportunity coming, and we want to get ahead of it.”
In 2023, the Golden Isles Development Authority purchased a 1,400-acre property located 7 miles west of the Port of Brunswick to create the Georgia Breakbulk Logistics Park. This new industrial park is not meant to compete with the Ro/Ro traffic at the port’s Colonel’s Island facility.
“But what it does give us is the opportunity to really carve out a niche in the bulk and breakbulk piece of business for the port,” Moore says.
In December 2024, the Golden Isles Development Authority received a $2 million grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to prepare the industrial park for development. As part of the OneGeorgia Authority’s Rural Site Development Initiative, the grant will be used to build entrances into the Georgia Breakbulk Logistics Park and extend water and sewer infrastructure.
“Having an industrial park that’s really designed to service those types of industries that are building large or dimensional products, we feel like we’ve got a good opportunity here,” says Moore.
Investments in Rail
A recent Georgia Department of Transportation report estimates that freight movement will nearly double in Georgia in the next 25 years. New state and federal funding programs have been announced to help meet this need.
In July 2024, Gov. Brian Kemp announced a massive $1.5 billion transportation infrastructure investment, which includes a $500 million freight program that will be allocated for projects devoted to “freight-carrying infrastructure which will improve efficiency, safety and reliability for the transportation of good across Georgia.”
In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration announced that Georgia will receive $65 million for three rail improvement projects as part of the $2.4 billion national grant funding in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
According to Norfolk Southern, these state and federal investments complement the company’s average annual investment of $195 million in roadway and infrastructure improvements and the $1.2 billion in industry-supported rail projects across Georgia over the past five years, which have supported the creation of more than 900 new jobs and strengthened the state’s logistics network.
Many government and business leaders in logistics from around the state and throughout the Southeast will convene at the Georgia Logistics Summit organized by the Center of Innovation, held this year April 23 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta. One of the topics will be Port to Point: Navigating Beyond the Gates.
It’s a timely discussion given these recent announcements and updates from Georgia’s logistics industry.
“The Georgia Ports Authority really is second to none in the world as far as port operations go and growth goes,” says the Golden Isles Development Authority’s Moore. “The state of Georgia and the Georgia Ports Authority really have done a fabulous job of growing at an astronomical pace and outpacing every other port in the nation.” 
This article appears in the April 2025 issue of Georgia Trend. Originally written by Keith Strigaro
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