Three electric, rubber-tired gantry cranes at the Appalachian Regional Port each has a lift capacity greater than 40 tons.

CRANDALL, Ga. — Three years of preparation culminated Wednesday with the official opening of the Appalachian Regional Port, which Gov. Nathan Deal said will give the citizens of Murray County a “chance” to get a “slice of the pie” of the economic benefit from the Port of Savannah.

Deal and U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, were joined by more than 300 business and civic leaders from around the area for the opening of the $26.5 million facility. Deal gave the keynote address a little more than three years after he was in Chatsworth to announce the port.

“I think this is a really important step forward in making better use of the Port of Savannah,” Deal said. “We are already getting great benefit from it, but when we expand the reach, as we are doing here in this inland port in Murray County, it makes it an even more important part of the overall Georgia economy.”

The inland port, 388 miles by rail from Savannah, will serve as a distribution and intake point for businesses in north Georgia, northeast Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee and will help move cargo to and from the Savannah port. Deal said Savannah is now the second-busiest port on the Atlantic coast, with an economic impact of $126 billion a year.

“If you don’t think that is significant, I am saying this is going to give you a chance to not only add to that number but to get an even bigger share and slice of the pie,” Deal said.

The inland port is operated by the Georgia Ports Authority. Rail service to the port is controlled by CSX. Officials said the port is expected to take 50,000 trucks off of the roads of Georgia each year.

“Each round-trip container moved via the ARP offsets 710 truck miles on Georgia highways,” a press release from the Georgia Ports Authority said.

The port initially has 11 employees. Deal said other than the director, the hires were from Murray and Whitfield counties. He said more jobs will be coming, and more jobs will be created because of the port’s opening.  

“Economically, this will spur development in this part of Georgia,” Deal said. “This is a county that is a Tier 1 county, which means there are even (more) enhanced tax incentives for businesses that create jobs in Tier 1 counties. I think Murray County is going to benefit greatly from that.”

Murray County Sole Commissioner Greg Hogan said companies are already expressing interest in the county, and a new 382-acre industrial park in the south end of the county will bring more business. Illya Copeland, executive director of the Murray County Industrial Development Authority, said in the press release from the Georgia Ports Authority that the Industrial Development Authority is closing on two port-related projects in the industrial park.

“Murray County features 16 sites offering more than 1,500 acres of developable land, most of which can support multiple developments,” Copeland said. “Of the 1,500 acres, 258 acres are rail-front property.”

The creation of the port and its construction on 42 acres of land off of Highway 411 North just south of Crandall was not without controversy. Some local homeowners and groups organized against the port and its location, citing concerns about increased truck traffic in the area and feared environmental impacts. Deal said Georgia Ports Authority representatives met with residents to address their concerns. He said the installation of electric cranes to reduce the noise from transferring the containers at the port demonstrated that the planners had made “accommodations for the neighbors.”

The three rubber-tired gantry cranes each has a lift capacity greater than 40 tons, the press release said: “Working together, (they) can handle 100,000 container lifts per year.”

Graves said the value of the port to the county will be apparent. 

“This is an exciting day,” he said. “It is celebrating success here in the region, and it is a great investment and commitment, and it really shows the vision that the governor and the state of Georgia have for this area and the expectations. It is a glimpse into the future of what we are going to see from job development and economic growth and wage increases all throughout this region, so a very exciting day.”

One of the users of the port will be Mohawk Flooring.

“We plan on using it as a cost-savings initiative for Mohawk,” said Steve Bevan, director of transportation and logistics, in the press release. “Instead of trucking from Savannah to north Georgia, we’ll pick up the containers in Chatsworth at the ARP, and truck it from there to our locations. We’re going to use it as much as we can. It’s a significant cost savings for us.”