Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue's visit to the Panama Canal on Sept. 24 confirmed what he already knew: the state's ports must act quickly to prepare for the canal's $5.2 billion expansion.

The trip, Mr. Perdue's first to the canal, helped him “visualize” its expansion and reiterated that “time is of the essence” as the state pushes federal authorities to formulate and approve a plan to deepen the channel that leads into the Port of Savannah, Mr. Perdue said during a conference call with reporters.

When completed in time for its centennial in 2014, the Panama Canal's expansion will double its capacity. A new set of locks will open that can accommodate the next generation of larger container ships that will likely carry the bulk of ocean-borne cargo in the near future.

For the Savannah port to receive these vessels, which have deeper drafts, its harbor must be deepened from 42 to 48 feet. Before that project can begin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must sign off on a plan. The state must then approach Congress for funding.

Mr. Perdue led a delegation of economic development officials and Georgia Ports Authority leaders to the canal this week to be sure that its expansion was on track before continuing to push the Savannah project.

The governor said he wanted to be "assured that we would not be doing something at one end and it not be complete on the other." 

He viewed the construction of the new, super-size locks from afar and took a closer look at the older, functioning locks. He toured control rooms and met with Panama Canal Authority leaders. By the end of the day, Mr. Perdue was convinced that the canal's expansion was proceeding as planned, whether Georgia's ports are ready or not.

"While we're optimistic about our end, it's very clear that these people are moving headstrong along in their project, on time, on budget," said Mr. Perdue, who according to his office is the first governor to visit the canal in six years. "I'm more and more confident that it will be completed in 2014."

When the Savannah harbor project will start is unclear. Based on talks with the head of the Army Corps of Engineers' Southeast operations, Mr. Perdue said he's "optimistic" that the corps could reach a plan by next summer, though he said that timeline is more ambitious than some of the corps's public statements would indicate. 

About $38 million has been spent weighing the feasibility of the harbor project since 1999, when Congress authorized the corps to study the possibility of deepening it in two-foot increments from 42 to 48 feet, said Curtis Foltz, chief operations officer for the Georgia Ports Authority.

The deepening is vital for the Savannah port to sustain its rapid growth, he said. Shipping lines are investing in vessels that have two to three times more capacity on average, and they will promptly begin utilizing the expanded canal.

If Savannah isn't ready, the nation's fourth busiest and fastest growing port could lose valuable customers, Mr. Foltz said.

About 72 percent of the Savannah port's volume comes through the canal. The Georgia Ports Authority supports nearly 300,000 jobs in the state.

The high stakes of maintaining customers aren't lost on Mr. Perdue. As if to remind him, he said a Maersk ship that had last stopped in Savannah passed through the locks as he was visiting the canal. Maersk, a Danish shipping firm, is the Georgia ports' largest customer.

"We don't want to miss a beat. We've done such a good job over the last 10-15 years having Savannah to be a favorite port of call, we don't want (shipping lines) to go somewhere else," he said.

Despite the economic doldrums, Mr. Perdue is confident that global trade volumes will rise over the long term and that the Southeast is in a prime location to reap the benefits.

"What our numbers show us is that while we have this economic downturn globally, that doesn't really change the balance sheet long term on what the demands for the Southeast region are going to be," he said.

He emphasized the Southeast as a region, saying there will be ample business for Savannah, Charleston, S.C., and a proposed port to be operated jointly by the Georgia and South Carolina ports authorities on land that Georgia's Transportation Department owns in Jasper County on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.

The prospect of a Jasper port should not affect the Army Corps of Engineers' plans for the harbor deepening, because in its studies, the corps is obligated to address only “current conditions that exist,” Mr. Foltz said. 

GlobalAtlanta traveled to Panama in May 2008 to examine the impact of the canal expansion on the Georgia ports.  Read that report here. 

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