The Economic Impact of Sea Level Rise on Port of Savannah's Garden City Terminal & City of Darien

Abstract

The Garden City Terminal at the Port of Savannah is one of the largest and fastest growing container ports in the country, making it an economic engine locally and nationally. The Terminal is an integral economic component on several scales: locally, it supports many households in and around Chatham County; regionally, the port supports wider distribution networks and regional agriculture and manufacturing; and nationally, the port serves as a gateway to access markets across the globe. Therefore rising sea levels projected over the next 100 years make port disruptions an important economic threat on a variety of scales. This report describes the economic threat that sea level rise poses to port and port-related operations through permanent inundation, worsening storm surge, and other environmental changes at local, regional and statewide scales. The team drew on research by Keating and Habeeb (2012) and created new tools for assessing the potential impacts on jobs, property, transportation links, and other businesses. The intent is to provide actionable projections for business leaders, policy makers, and individuals in areas that may eventually have to respond to the effects of sea level rise.