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Yesterday, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced its board approved a $6.5 million, 6,000-foot extension of the Mason Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) at the Port of Savannah.

To begin in January, the project calls for combining 46,921 linear feet of track between two on-site rail yards served by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. The project will enable locomotives to pull cars through the ICTF instead of having to back cars into the facility, GPA officials said in a prepared statement.

“Our two intermodal rail facilities allow rapid unloading and reloading — and prevent the need for truck hauling from remote rail yards to the port,” said GPA Executive Director Curtis Foltz. “This expansion is part of a continual effort to improve our facility and increase efficiency.”

The project also will help increase the percentage of cargo transported at the port via rail as container transfer volume increases, said GPA Chairman Alec Poitevint. From July through October, the port registered 109,036 intermodal container moves, up 14 percent year over year. And in August, the port set a monthly rail transfers record at 28,610, said Poitevint.

“Preparations such as the expansion of the Mason ICTF will improve today’s operations and lay the groundwork for meeting future demands,” he said.