USA: Georgia’s Appalachian Regional Port just posted its busiest July on record — an acceleration that comes weeks after Railway Supply reported the same inland terminal’s full-year volume record for fiscal 2026.

Container stacks and gantry crane at the Appalachian Regional Port in Crandall, Georgia
Container stacks and handling equipment at the Appalachian Regional Port in Crandall, Georgia. Illustrative photo. Photo: Thomson200, CC0 1.0.

The Appalachian Regional Port, a Crandall, Ga. rail-to-truck transload facility connected to the Port of Savannah via CSX, handled 4,800 containers in July, up 41% — nearly 1,400 containers — compared with July 2025, the Georgia Ports Authority announced, as reported by the Rome News-Tribune. Railway Supply previously reported that the same facility closed fiscal 2026 with a record 49,319 containers, up 20% from the prior year — meaning July’s monthly pace is now running well ahead of that annual trend.

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The wider Georgia ports picture in July

GPA’s release also covered figures for the coastal system that Railway Supply’s earlier report did not include. Port of Savannah exports rose 7.7% in July compared with July 2025, and imports were up 5% over the same month, GPA said. Savannah’s Mason Mega Rail Terminal handled 44,981 container lifts in July, a 2% increase year over year, with the port continuing to average about 20 hours to move a container from vessel to train — a process GPA says can take days or weeks at other major container ports. “We’re pleased to start fiscal year 2027 in positive territory for both import and export cargo,” GPA CEO Griff Lynch said.

At the Port of Brunswick, auto imports rose 5.3% year over year in July, but total auto trade fell 4.5% due to lower vehicle exports, according to GPA.

What the announcement doesn’t say

The GPA release does not specify what is driving the Appalachian Regional Port’s acceleration specifically — whether it reflects new customers, capacity added since the facility’s earlier fiscal-year record, or a shift of volume from the nearby Gainesville Inland Port, which Railway Supply reported was approaching completion earlier this year.

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