Port business booming in Brunswick

ST. SIMONS ISLAND - Officials predict better days ahead for the port of Brunswick. <br> <br> Bulk cargo tonnage increased 6.3 percent over the past year at the Georgia port, and with a new bridge and deeper shipping channel on the horizon, things can only improve, officials said. <br> <br> ``The port, quite frankly, has been the brightest news the state of Georgia has had to announce over the past 18 months,&#39;&#39; Georgia Ports Authority member Henry Bishop said Wednesday at a meeting of port officials and local leaders. <br> <br> Doug J. Marchand, executive director of the ports authority, said in his annual state of the port address, that more than 251,000 autos and pieces of machinery moved across the docks on Colonel&#39;s Island south of Brunswick in the past fiscal year. <br> <br> A few months ago, Porsche Cars North America Inc. chose Brunswick as its new Southeast import distribution center, and Volvo Cars of North America announced it will move an estimated 30,000 vehicles through Brunswick annually, Marchand said. <br> <br> He credited an expansion of facilities on Colonel&#39;s Island, competitive pricing and an experienced labor force as reasons for the increased imports. He said Brunswick could surpass Jacksonville and Baltimore to become the second largest auto importer on the Atlantic within 10 years. <br> <br> Increases were not limited to auto imports and processing. The Port of Brunswick moved more than 1.5 million tons of bulk cargo over the past year, Marchand said. He said bulk tonnage through the Colonel&#39;s Island Agri-Bulk facility was up 128,934 tons to nearly 600,000, a 28 percent increase. <br> <br> A new Sidney Lanier Bridge, which will open next year with 185 feet of clearance, and a harbor deepened from 30 feet to 36 feet soon will increase business even more, Marchand said. <br> <br> The state is paying $20.3 million of the $55.3 million estimated cost the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will incur in the project. <br> <br> Bishop, a Brunswick banker, said he does not want to stop there. <br> <br> ``I&#39;m going to make every effort to go deeper to 40 to 42 feet. I envision that happening,&#39;&#39; Bishop said.