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Customers & Business Partners: Duluth, Georgia

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The Port of Duluth recently welcomed the cruise ship Yorktown, which stopped in the northern Minnesota port as part of an 11-day Great Lakes itinerary. In Georgia, Gulf States Cold Storage opened a 100,000-square-foot cold storage facility serving the Port of Savannah.

Duluth Hosts Passenger Cruise Ship Yorktown

The cruise ship Yorktown got the red carpet treatment when it arrived in Duluth for a port call of visit on Thursday, August 8. 
Owned and operated by Travel Dynamics International, the U.S.-flag vessel docked behind the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC), where it disembarked 124 passengers for a day of sightseeing and entertaining as part of an 11-day "Great Lakes Grand Discovery" itinerary that includes stops in all five Great Lakes. 

Sunrise shot of the Yorktown’s arrival in Duluth.  
Photo/Robert Welton

Built in 1988 and designed specifically for coastal cruising, Yorktown measures 257 feet in length and 43 feet in width, allowing it to maneuver in waterways and ports that are inaccessible to larger vessels. Able to accommodate all of its guests in 65 exterior cabins, the Yorktown offers a large sun deck, a lounge for social gatherings and lectures, plus a dining room featuring American cuisine.

Onboard, passengers enjoy lectures by leading experts, plus excursions to several points of interest along the way, including: Houghton, Manistique, Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinac Island, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Alpena and Presque Isle. Travel Dynamics International has already planned its inland waterway itineraries for next year, which includes six Duluth port calls.

Georgia: Gulf States Cold Storage Moves into Savannah 

Gulf States Cold Storage has opened a 100,000-square-foot cold storage facility serving the Port of Savannah. The site is capable of blast freezing up to 4 million pounds of cargo per week. 

The new facility, located less than 10 miles from the Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Container Terminal, currently employs 25 people. John Dean, Gulf States’ vice president of sales and marketing, said the company plans to add a second shift, boosting employment to 35-45 workers. 

The cold storage area is maintained at -12 degrees Fahrenheit, while the blast cells reach as low as -35 degrees. Most of the cargo will be moved on racks; however, the facility also features a bulk staging area for transload operations. Gulf States already has plans for a dock extension and the addition of 85,000 square feet of frozen storage. 

Mr. Dean said the blast freezing site will serve primarily poultry export customers for now, but the company is talking with potential customers about adding imported vegetables, fruit and seafood to its commodity portfolio. 

Since 2006, refrigerated exports through Savannah have increased 130 percent. Last year alone, the GPA experienced a 3.9 percent increase in refrigerated cargo exports to nearly 108,000 TEUs. 

"Right now, we have more demand for refrigerated warehousing than we have existing facilities," said GPA Executive Director Curtis Foltz. "The GPA’s ongoing work to expand our on-terminal capacity for refrigerated cargo, along with private developments like Gulf States, will strengthen Georgia’s position in the marketplace.

The new 100,000-square-foot Gulf States Cold Storage facility in Savannah includes five blast cells, capable of blast freezing up to 100 loads, or 4 million pounds, of cargo a week.
Photo/Georgia Ports Authority
 

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