Georgia’s seaports had their second-busiest year in fiscal 2023 despite a decline in the volume of consumer goods moving across their docks as retailers with full inventories cut back their orders, officials said this past week.

The Georgia Ports Authority reported that the Port of Savannah handled 5.4 million container units of imports and exports in the fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s down 6.7% from a year ago, when the port scrambled to keep up with a record-breaking cargo surge.

Like other U.S. ports, Savannah in fiscal 2021 and 2022 saw a flood of imports shipped in containers, giant metal boxes used to transport retail goods from consumer electronics to frozen chickens. Fueled by pent-up consumer demand following a pandemic-driven slowdown, the spending boom left retailers with excess inventories. That meant fewer orders to refill stockrooms over the past year.

GNN