Georgia Ports Authority Intermodal Planning

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) anticipates that container throughput at the Garden City Terminal will grow significantly over the next 15 to 20 years. In fiscal year 2006 the facilities handled 2,032,000 TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) of which approximately 20% was handled at the intermodal facilities. It is anticipated that the throughput will more than double in the planning horizon and the GPA is in the process of developing a Facilities Master Plan to meet the demand. One critical aspect of the facilities master plan is ensuring that the intermodal facilities are adequate to handle the projected growth, while maintaining the competitive environment that exists among the two serving railroads. The Garden City Terminal is currently served by Norfolk-Southern and CSX with both having on-dock facilities which eliminates drayage and marshalling costs. Currently, the GPA has separate distinct intermodal facilities with Norfolk-Southern servicing the James D. Mason Intermodal Container Transfer Faciility (ICTF) and CSX providing service on tracks that are oriented perpendicular to the berths in the container yard. The rails in the container yard present a significant challenge operationally and for densification. This paper provides a discussion of the overall planning process that was undertaken and the alternatives that were developed which included a combined ICTF facility in the Mason ICTF and/or independent separate facilities. The considerations that entered into the decision included connectivity to existing rails, advantages with regards to labor and equipment at a single facility, and overall costs. The final result was a decision to pursue separate independent facilities in the short-term and a combined facility in the long-term. The James D. Mason ICTF will consist of twelve working tracks (32,800 total feet) and 34,600 feet of storage track. The current facility consists of four 2,500 foot working tracks, one 2,500 foot runaround track, and two 2,500 foot storage tracks. The Chatham Yard ICTF will consist of three working tracks (6,300 total feet) and 10,000 feet of storage track. Additionally, each ICTF was planned to allow the GPA the flexibility to continue utilizing top picks to load and unload the rail cars into the near future and then to convert to rubber-tired gantries (RTG's) or rail mounted gantries (RMG's). A typical plan and cross-section of each ICTF will be provided.