The Port of Savannah’s $3 billion plan to double containerized cargo capacity and how that investment could positively impact the freight economy in the St. Louis region will be the focus of a keynote speech presented by John D. Trent, Senior Director of Strategic Operations at the Georgia Ports Authority, at the St. Louis Regional Freightway Industry Forum on May 23, 2019. The Industry Forum, which will be the final event of FreightWeekSTL 2019, will be held at the Bi-State Development Headquarters Offices at 211 North Broadway in St. Louis, Missouri, from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m..
Included in the Port of Savannah’s plan to grow containerized cargo capacity to eight million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) is a new $220 million rail terminal that will be the largest on-terminal rail facility in North America by 2020. The Port of Savannah has identified the St. Louis region as a key inland market and distribution center, creating the potential to further link the St. Louis region’s world-class freight and logistics hub to the national and global supply chains.
“We’re excited to be building relationships with the Port of Savannah (Georgia) and other East Coast ports in Norfolk (Virginia) and New York and New Jersey, with the goal of taking advantage of the strong rail connectivity between the Midwest and East Coast, which includes the Norfolk Southern and the CSX Railroads,” said Mary Lamie, Executive Director of the St. Louis Regional Freightway. “By developing these relationships, we can better position the St. Louis region to support our coastal ports as they look for partners to help them move containers and freight into the interior of the nation.”
The new relationships being forged come on the heels of the partnerships established over the past two years with the Ports of New Orleans and Plaquemines in Southern Louisiana to develop stronger connections to the global markets through the Gulf of Mexico and Panama Canal. Lamie said updates on new developments regarding those efforts will be shared during other events taking place as part of FreightWeekSTL 2019.
This is the second year FreightWeekSTL is being held in conjunction with the Inland Marine Expo (IMX), which is expected to again draw more than 2,000 people involved in freight and logistics to St. Louis. Taking place from May 20 through May 23, FreightWeekSTL 2019 is the premier event for industry experts, business leaders and elected officials to learn about new developments and the latest innovations shaping the future of the freight industry, new economic partnerships, and the St. Louis region’s growth in the global freight and logistics marketplace.
Learn more about the Industry Forum. To learn more about IMX and other events being hosted as part of FreightWeekSTL 2019, click here.
About St. Louis Regional Freightway
The St. Louis Regional Freightway is a Bi-State Development enterprise formed to create a regional freight district and comprehensive authority for freight operations and opportunities within eight counties in Illinois and Missouri which comprise the St. Louis metropolitan area. Public sector and private industry businesses are partnering with the St. Louis Regional Freightway to establish the bi-state region as one of the premier multimodal freight hubs and distribution centers in the United States through marketing, public advocacy, and freight and infrastructure development.
