GPA\\\ GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. (GPA Photo.)


Issue 1 2020 - FBJNA


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GPA Celebrates 75 Years By Karen E. Thuermer


Freight Business Journal – North America (FBJNA) congratulates the Georgia Ports Authority on its 75th anniversary. In reflecting on its long history, many successes, and bright future, GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch provides FBJNA and its readers the following thoughts. Since 1945, Georgia Ports


Authority (GPA) has benefited by the vision of its forward- thinking board members and


state leaders. “Such


vision,” says Mr. Lynch, “has allowed the Authority to anticipate and take advantage of emerging trends in the maritime logistics industry.” From its


formation as


a statewide authority coordinating the efforts of Georgia’s ports, to its entry into the container trade in 1969, the GPA has been a model of efficiency. “Developed to oversee terminals and ‘…to do any other things necessary or proper to foster or encourage


GPA’s innovation role


As an early adopter of containerized trade, the Port of Savannah has evolved from paper records to computer tracking as volumes have r e ac he d millions of


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the commerce of the state, the United States of America or of the several sister states,’ the


GPA has had a revolutionary effect on Georgia’s economy and how port services are marketed across the nation,” he says.


GPA’s Mayor’s Point Terminal. (GPA photo.) Starting in 1995, the GPA


pioneered the “Savannah Model” of marketing its services


directly to cargo owners, instead of only to the


shipping lines. By convincing big-box retailers to establish distribution centers in Georgia, the GPA ensured not


only new import business, but a steady stream of empty containers to support Georgia exports. “This marketing model,


emulated across the country, has proven incredibly successful in helping the GPA accomplish its central mission: economic development for the state of Georgia,” Mr. Lynch says. According to the University


of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, port activity in Georgia supports 440,000 private industry jobs across the


paychecks each year, $44 billion in state GDP, and $106 billion in annual sales.


state, $25 billion in


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