Colonel's Island Port will become the number one port on the East Coast for grain imports and exports.

Organization:  The Southeast Georgia Joint Development Authority is made up of six contiguous counties:  Brantley-Camden-Charlton-Glynn-McIntosh-Wayne.  The organization was formed in 2004 to promote economic development and improve job opportunities in Southeast Georgia.

Project:  Build a railroad track 7,500 feet long to connect the Norfolk Southern main line to the CSX mainline en-route to Colonel's Island Port.  Allow Norfolk Southern to use unit trains which mean the train would carry only one commodity from point of production to the port without having to do any switching en-route.  This is a major time saver.

Purpose:  To reduce time and cost to move automobiles and grain from the producers to the port.  The track would reduce the time by 70%.  It takes 13 days round trip to transport a load of Mercedes-Benz automobiles from Alabama to the port.  The new connecting track will reduce this time to 31/2 days.  The track was necessary to make the port competitive with other ports.  We were advised that Mercedes-Benz may take the 40,000 automobiles now being exported through our port to another port and also not be competitive for the proposed expansion of 40,000.  This would cause us to lose 25 direct jobs at international auto processing company and the additional 25 more with the expansion.  We were not competitive with the gulf ports for import/export of grain due to the time and expense of using our port.

Results:  We have won the Mercedes-Benz contract for exporting their 80,000 automobiles and have many new potential grain customers wanting to use the Colonel's Island Port.

Economic Impact:  Based on a study by Georgia Southern University, (Januarys 2006) the track would create a sustained job growth of 230 for the state and 198 jobs for the region.

The Gross Regional Product is expected to increase by $16.7 million next year and $18.8 in 20 years.

Project Cost:  The projected cost is $4,500,000.  Thanks to Governor Perdue and other state agencies the Joint Authority was able to secure the following assistance:

            GDOT            $1,000,000      Grant

            DCA               $   500,000      Grant through Glynn County Commission

            OneGeorgia  $   500,000      Low Interest Loan

            OREMC         $1,040,000      No Interest Loan

The balance of the cost will be finance by local banks.

Other Expenditures:  In addition to the direct cost above following are projected  expenditures due to the track:

            Norfolk Southern                    $21,300,000

            GA Port Authority                 $  3,400,000

            GDOT Overpass                    $  8,200,000

            County Sewer                         $  5,393,160

Ownership:  The Southeast Georgia Joint Development Authority will own the track and will lease to Norfolk Southern Corporation for a period of 20 years plus renewals.  Norfolk Southern will be responsible for all cost associated with the track and pay the Authority a fee for the use of it.

The Authority will use the fee to set up marketing and revolving loan programs for the region to be used to help market the region and assist with financing other projects.

Other Facts:     One train load of 600 autos would require 60 trucks.

                               One train load of grain would require 300 trucks.

Contact for more information:         Phil Overton, Project Manager

                                                            E-mail: philoverton@bellsouth.net

                                                            Phone : 912-222-2044