Georgia’s new Appalachian Regional Port opened on Wednesday.
Georgia Ports, via Twitter
CRANDALL, Georgia — The Appalachian Regional Port, Georgia’s second inland port, has opened in the northwest part of the state to accept goods to be shipped into and out of the state.
The $26 million port, about 100 miles northwest of Atlanta, opened on Wednesday with ceremonies including Gov. Nathan Deal, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Connected the Port of Savannah by a CSX Transportation rail line, the new port joins a similar facility in Cordele, Ga., that opened in 2011.
The 42-acre facility, adjacent to Interstate 75 and U.S. Route 411, is about 10 miles from the Tennessee state line. It can handle up to 50,000 containers per year, with plans to double that capacity.
With all the motive power that CSX has at its disposal they could have at least used a freshly painted locomotive for the photo op.
CSX to provide every other day service between Port at Savannah and Appalachian Regional Port:
https://appalachianregionalport.com/the-details/
Why didn’t they put it on the Tennessee River? I am from Atlanta and still live in North GA, and as much as I like to keep GA folks employed, that would allow a barge traffic transloading facility as well. It’s right across the border to get to the Tennessee river.
Could they have found a dirtier engine for the PR shot? Good thing the lettering on the nose is visible. I’m not one that is into the fluffy PR crap, but c’mon guys! On the other hand, this is what many of the units on all railroads look like anyway so maybe it is appropriate.
Once they have a terminal there, can they load domestic intermodal as well and bring the carpet to major markets directly on CSX?
This was a done deal between the Port Authority and CSX before Hunter got his greedy hands on the company. There is no doubt that if he had been CEO when the project first came up on the radar, it would have been shelved immediately – much to the delight of the local citizenry.
The location makes perfect sense. Chatsworth, just down the road, and Dalton, 20 minutes away comprise what used to be known as the carpet capital of the world. Hundreds of mills and support industries host thousands of truckloads every day. The majority of those come in off of I-75, which has just about reached it’s saturation point. The thinking is that this new transfer point could capture some of the truck loads while they are still local and transport them to Savannah directly on rails instead over the roads. It’s good in theory, but I’ve got the feeling that CSX’s poor attitude towards service is going to blow this facility out of the water before it can make a good start.
Chattanooga never has been, and without major investment, never will be, a major source of water commerce. 80 years or so ago, some slick politicians promised the citizens of Chattown that they needed to build their bridges as lift spans to accommodate the huge ships and barges that would be coming inland from the Mississippi and up the Tennessee River. To date, the only time those lift spans downtown and on The Ten ever get raised is to see if they still actually work. Railroads are still where it’s at in that town.
This deal was signed with CSX some time before EHH arrived and couldnt be walked back.
Georgia has been trying for years to get more interstate highway funding, especially for east west routes in the southern half.
So instead of bringing more trucks east, they are simply bringing more containers west.
With only 2 functioning ports (Brunswick & Savannah) and heavy competition from Jacksonville and Charleston, this has them placing inland ports near the state borders where they can bypass Atlanta and still reach transcon Interstates easily.
Shippers must be buying into it.
Pushing intermodal farther west, but ceding the Midwest to trucks out of Chicago from west coast railroads.
Maybe EHH plans to merge CP Rail wasn’t too far off the rails after all.
Thought CSX isn’t much interested in intermodal?
Wyatt:
I would imagine location was determined by available real estate and tax breaks offered by the State of Georgia.
Too; I’d imagine you would find next to zero traffic moving by barge on the Tennessee that is a candidate for transload to containers moving through Savannah.