CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Products that are made in Asia and bound for Chicago have to travel across the ocean by ship before they're unloaded on the west coast onto freight trains that take two or three days to arrive.
Savannah may be on the opposite coast but Georgia Ports Authority officials want it to be the port of entry for goods bound for Chicago. Even though it would require a trip through the Panama Canal, the travel time is competitive, explained Ed McCarthy, GPA chief operations officer.
"We're almost equal distance or equal travel time to coming from Asia east to Chicago," McCarthy said.
The port recently underwent a 10-year, billion-dollar improvement project, which includes $200 million spent to improve its rail cargo facilities, McCarthy added.
Now it takes 24 hours to unload a container ship and transfer everything to freight trains when it used to take two-and-a-half days.