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August 9 2023
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Vol. XXV • No. 16
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The Industrial Company Delivering $410M Port Upgrade By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is spending $410 million to transform and upgrade the 200-acre Ocean Terminal in the Port of Savannah, a project that is being undertaken by The Industrial Company (TIC), which is responsible for the wharf/berth refurbishment element. The new Ocean Terminal berths are being constructed in phases, with the first expected to open in 2025 and the second one year later. The entire project is expected to take five years to complete. The current Ocean Terminal, a dedicated breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off facility, provides customers with more than 1.4 million sq. ft. of covered storage and has five berths with direct rail access. It handles the majority of the state’s breakbulk cargo, that includes steel, paper and lumber. These operations are currently being transferred to the Port of Brunswick, roughly 70 mi. south of the Port of Savannah. Savannah is the country’s fourth-busiest container port and is experiencing a $10 million upgrade to accommodate more cargo and provide more efficient services. “The Authority is transitioning the 200-acre Ocean Terminal in Savannah,” said Edward Fulford, the GPA’s manager of media relations. “Having handled a mix of containers and breakbulk cargo for 40 years, Ocean Terminal will become an all-container facility. Demolition has begun to make way for berth improvements and container yard construction. Rebuilding the docks will provide 2,800 feet of berth space, capable of serving two big ships simultaneously. see PORT page 6
Repurposing the current Ocean to service ships transporting containers is more efficient compared to constructing a new facility.
New Lithium-Ion Battery Factory Coming to Decatur County Chicago-based Anovion Technologies, a climate tech-driven advanced materials company, announced recently that it had selected Decatur County, Ga., as the site of its first large-scale expansion of manufacturing capacity for production of premium synthetic graphite anode materials. Anovion chose the location in the southwest part of the Peach State to invest an initial $800 million for its 1.5-million-sq.-ft. plant based on several factors, including its proximity to existing and planned low- and carbon-free energy sources for power, short
supply chains, access to existing rail infrastructure, a highly valuable skilled workforce and business-friendly environment. In short, Decatur County is seen as an ideal fit for Anovion’s new expansion by company officials. “Anovion conducted a thorough search to identify a location that addressed our energy, transportation, logistics and human capital needs that would ensure we have the ecosystem in place to produce the highest quality and sustainable synthetic graphite anode material on the market today,” said Eric
Stopka, the company’s CEO. “Not only does existing infrastructure make southwest Georgia an attractive location for [our] new facility, but the proximity to other battery and [electric vehicle] manufacturing plants will allow us to further reduce our carbon footprint.” As a leader in innovation and production of lithium-ion battery materials, Anovion began commercial production in early 2021 and is among a limited number of graphite anode producers in America to have successfully gained qualification for EV applica-
tions. In October 2022, Anovion was awarded a grant totaling $117 million from the U.S. Department of Energy under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to rapidly scale production capacity to meet growing demand with the construction of a large-scale factory in the Southeast, in addition to helping secure the domestic battery manufacturing supply chain for the country’s electrified future. The new Georgia facility, which will be the first of this scale for the company, is seen see FACTORY page 6