Gainesville inland port could pull 26,000 trucks off Atlanta roads

A $134 million inland port in Gainesville that ships cargo to Savannah by train could pull 26,000 trucks off metro Atlanta and Hall County roads in its first year, the Georgia Ports Authority estimates.

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Gov. Brian Kemp joined port and railroad leaders Thursday for an opening ceremony at the 104-acre terminal on White Sulphur Road.

The trains give shippers in Northeast Georgia a way around a 600-mile round trip to Savannah by truck, according to the authority.

“It’s gonna be good for our logistics,” Kemp said. “It’s gonna be good for helping continue to do things to reduce congestion.”

The authority’s president and CEO, Griff Lynch, said the project started 14 years ago when leaders first came to look at the land.

“The Georgia Ports had a lot of faith and a lot of people in us had faith and we moved the mountain,” Lynch said. “We have literally moved the mountain.”

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Seven electric cranes now load containers onto Norfolk Southern trains, which run five days a week with next-day service to the Port of Savannah.

“It will also help reduce long-haul truck movements on Georgia’s highways, which is personally important for me,” said Ed Elkins, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Norfolk Southern.

About 330 manufacturers sit in the area the hub serves, from poultry plants to heavy equipment makers. Lynch said a smaller inland port the authority built in northwest Georgia is already breaking records, and the Gainesville site is four times its size.

Kemp said the investment will put people to work at the site and send truck drivers to local gas stations.

“It’s just gonna create more economic opportunity not only for this part of the state, but really our entire state,” Kemp said.

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