Port of Savannah Drayage: A Guide for Owner Operators

Garden City Terminal is where most Savannah containers are picked up and dropped. Ocean Terminal, closer to downtown, is a 200-acre GPA terminal being rebuilt for containers, with yard work due in 2027 and 2028. Both follow GPA's gate rules, but Ocean Terminal truck gates now work only with digital tickets.

At Garden City, container traffic uses Gate 3 on Hawaii Road, Gate 4 on Holt Drive and Gate 8 on Mason Drive, which GPA's terminal guide lists for empty trucks. Every lane at those three gates has a scale. Gate 5 on Trippe Boulevard handles out-of-gauge trucks.

Ocean Terminal now has 2,650 feet of berth. GPA says it is adding expanded truck gates and a dedicated exit ramp that puts departing trucks onto U.S. 17 and I-16 without using neighborhood streets. From the terminal, I-516 is 2 miles away and I-95 is under 10.

The GPA Trucker app shows PIN status and sends gate alerts. It is optional at Garden City, but GPA says Ocean Terminal gates now rely only on the app's digital tickets.

No. Garden City Terminal does not book truck time slots. Each container move is pre-advised in GPA's WebAccess system and gets a PIN. At the gate pedestal you key in that PIN with your plate and the move details, the system prints a ticket, and you go through the inspection lanes.

If anything does not match, the pedestal prints a trouble ticket and sends you to the trucker assistance kiosk between the pedestal and the inspection canopy. Most errors are fixed by your dispatcher or the steamship line, so keep both numbers handy.

GPA's posted weekday schedule has Gates 3 and 8 open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Gate 4 open 4 a.m. to 6 p.m., with reefer service starting at 6 a.m. Dry pickups cut off at 4:30 p.m. and dry drop-offs at 5 p.m. Reefer cutoffs are 4:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. Saturday runs through Gate 4 only.

Hours do move. In January 2026 GPA announced a 6 a.m. weekday opening and a shorter Saturday gate because volume had dropped, and said hours would flex as demand changed. Check the WebAccess notices or the app the night before an early or Saturday move. Gates close on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Turn times are published. GPA reported an average of 34 minutes for a single-container move and 43 minutes for a dual move in August 2026. GPA says drivers serving local warehouses can complete six to eight turns a day at that pace.

Anyone who visits GPA marine terminals five or more times in 365 days needs a TWIC and a GPA-issued badge. Every tractor also needs a GPA RFID tag for pickups and deliveries. Badges from the Savannah or Brunswick credentialing centers work at all GPA terminals.

The TWIC comes from TSA after a background check. It is valid for five years, and TSA advises applying at least 60 days before you need it, because some applications take more than 45 days. The RFID tag comes from the GPA credentialing center, and you need your tractor's unladen weight to register it.

GPA began rolling out facial recognition at Garden City truck gates in June 2026. Drivers who enroll no longer stop to present a TWIC at lanes that have it, though they must still carry the card on terminal. Enrollment is at GPA Public Safety, 102 Main Street in Garden City, from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, and it requires a TWIC.

GPA's terminal guide adds a rule that surprises some drivers: a spouse or child may not ride along on terminal unless they hold a TWIC. GPA's posted motor carrier requirements cover credentials and the RFID tag; they do not list an engine model-year rule for trucks.

Mason Mega Rail is GPA's rail yard inside Garden City Terminal, served by CSX and Norfolk Southern and working 42 trains a week. Because trains load on terminal, international boxes can move from ship to train without a truck on public roads. GPA's rail tariff also covers truck outgates of domestic and landbridge containers at the yard.

GPA advertises two- to three-day double-stack service from Savannah to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas and Memphis. For a local driver, that means the long inland leg often belongs to the railroad, while the truck work stays in the warehouse belt near the port.

The rail yard keeps its own schedule. GPA's rail tariff sets working hours of 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Weekend outgates of domestic or landbridge containers happen only between 9 and 10 a.m., and the carrier has to give written notice by 4 p.m. the Friday before.

At Garden City and Ocean Terminal, GPA names the South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP) as the exclusive pool operator, managed by Consolidated Chassis Management (CCM). Tri-axle and underslung genset chassis are outside that pool. Carriers register with CCM and sign a pool usage agreement before their drivers pull SACP chassis.

SACP runs as a single-provider pool across the South Atlantic, including Savannah, Jacksonville, Wilmington, Atlanta and Charlotte. GPA reported that drivers needing an empty chassis at Garden City had more than 1,700 to choose from on an average day in August 2026.

Off-dock providers rent specialty chassis too. NACPC's Savannah premium pool offers 20-foot sliders, tri-axles and 20/40 combos from depots in Port Wentworth and Garden City, and its chassis must go back to the depot where they were picked up.

Whatever the source, federal rules make you the last check. Before you take intermodal equipment over the road, 49 CFR 392.7(b) requires you to inspect it, and driving off means you accepted those parts as in good working order.

Heavy boxes have their own rule in Georgia. A sealed 40-foot container moving to or from an international port may run at 100,000 lb gross on a five-axle combination, and a 20-foot box on a center-mount tri-axle may also reach 100,000 lb on five or more axles. A 20-foot box on a standard setup is held to 80,000 lb with a 44,000-lb tandem. The driver must be ready to show the international bill of lading, and permits come from the Georgia DOT.

GPA gives loaded international containers seven calendar days of free time on terminal, starting at the first 12:01 a.m. after discharge. After that, terminal storage applies. The ocean carrier runs its own demurrage and per diem clocks, and GPA's guide sends last-free-day questions to the steamship line, not to the port.

Two clocks matter to a driver. Demurrage runs while a loaded box sits at the terminal past its free days, so a slow pickup costs someone. Per diem, also called detention, runs while a carrier's container or chassis is out of the terminal past its free days, so a late empty return costs someone too.

GPA's free time by container type, from its terminal schedule effective October 1, 2026:

Most Savannah boxes deliver to the warehouse belt that runs from Garden City through Port Wentworth and Pooler into Effingham and Bryan counties. Local runs stay on the port truck routes and I-16 or I-95, so a driver can turn several boxes a day and sleep at home.

The warehouse market keeps growing. Lee & Associates counted about 3.1 million square feet of net absorption in the first quarter of 2026, which it tied largely to port and logistics users, with about 4.7 million more under construction. Its submarkets include Garden City, Port Wentworth, Bloomingdale and Pooler, and Effingham County.

West on I-16, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America sits in Ellabell in Bryan County, about 25 miles from downtown Savannah. The plant began operating in October 2024, and a logistics park is planned across from it.

Getting in and out of the port changed in 2026. On July 16, the Georgia DOT opened the Brampton Road Connector, a four-lane route that ties the port to the interstate system and keeps trucks off neighborhood streets. The port calls it the final piece of a series of projects to ease truck access.

Eagle Systems runs import and export drayage out of a yard at 165 Distribution Drive, Building E, in Pooler, about 10 miles from Garden City Terminal. The terminal serves Garden City, Ocean Terminal and Mason Mega Rail. Leased-on owner operators are home daily, and there is no forced dispatch.

The Pooler yard covers 5 acres, is fenced and watched by cameras, and has 80 container spaces. The Savannah terminal handles 20-, 40- and 45-foot international containers and in-gauge open tops, takes overweight containers and residential deliveries, and is a bonded carrier. It keeps its own 20/40 combo, tri-axle and 40-foot chassis.

Eagle owner operators gross $3,000–$5,000 a week company-wide, paid weekly. To qualify you need a valid Class A CDL; 2 years of verifiable tractor-trailer experience, or 1 year plus a certified trucking school certificate; your own commercial motor vehicle; a truck that is model year 2000 or newer, or ELD compliant; and age 21 or older. You must also meet Eagle's safety and qualification standards; the requirements to lease on with Eagle explain each one, and what the Eagle lease includes covers the fuel card, insurance and plate programs.

For local details and the terminal team, see owner operator jobs in Savannah, GA. To see how weekly pay is figured, read how Eagle settlements work, or browse open owner operator jobs. Still deciding between port work and long haul? Compare intermodal vs OTR for owner operators, or start from the Eagle terminal map.