TIMA- Tybee, Georgia Island Maritime Academy 2019, tours by APICS Board Member Bill Stankiewicz

The Savannah Chapter of APICS offers monthly professional development meetings, educational workshops and seminars, certification programs, a job bank, and newsletters.  Individuals participating in chapter activities find ample opportunities to enhance their skills and network with others involved with production and inventory control, materials and resource management.

Our members come primarily from manufacturing, distribution, and service companies located in the Greater Savannah, Georgia area.  You do not have to be a member to participate in chapter activities, although membership brings additional benefits.   Supply chain and operations management is one of the fastest growing professions globally, creating great demand for top notch, highly competent professionals. APICS research, education and certification advances supply chain professionals to excel in the profession and become the leaders who will transform supply chain organizations for peak performance.  APICS Savannah is here to create exciting possibilities for current and future supply chain leaders to deliver, innovate and impact our world.

The minute you walk in the school’s door, you notice something is different. Flip-flops, sunscreen, fishing poles and other items you would take to the beach or see along the shoreline are in classrooms throughout the school. Students are able to walk to the beach to view marine animals and explore Georgia’s coastal habitat rather than reading about it in a textbook or online.

“The maritime theme is a general theme that we teach our standards around,” said Patrick Rossiter, principal of Tybee Island Maritime Academy. “For instance, when we look at numbers, our kindergartners might be looking at numbers on the bow of a ship to see how deep in the water it is.”

This year, the school is also partnering with Bloomindale Elementary, a traditional school in the county, to learn about landforms on Tybee Island. First graders at Bloomingdale elementary and Tybee Island Maritime Academy will walk to the beach to draw and build mountains, rivers and other landforms out of sand. 

Tybee Island Maritime Academy also takes students on field trips to places like the Port of Savannah, one of the largest economic drivers in Georgia. While at the Port of Savannah, students view container vessels loading and unloading. They also learn lessons about logistics and supply chains.

“We’re trying to plant seeds early,” said Rossiter. “Exposing them to a maritime education allows students to see that they could attend a school like Georgia Southern University and work for the Georgia Port Authority, a container company, or become a captain on the river, or go into the maritime industry. Also, if they learn about logistics and supply chains, it makes them more informed consumers.”

“We’ve been able to establish ourselves as one of the premier schools in Chatham County,” said Rossiter. “We get ranked against a number of successful schools that have been that way for years and years. In five years, we’ve managed to take our place among those schools and maintain it. Still, we’re constantly looking for ways to improve.”

Rossiter said he meets with teachers at the end of the year to evaluate the school year and create a plan to make the following year even better for students. He says Tybee Island Maritime teachers, staff and board members work closely together to maintain the feeling of a small, close-knit school that students want to attend.

The Port of Savannah handled more total containerized cargo and more intermodal rail volume, with greater connectivity and velocity, than any March on record, the Georgia Ports Authority reported today.

"I would like to thank our employees at GPA, the stevedores and the International Longshoremen's Association for helping to make this accomplishment possible," said Griff Lynch, GPA's executive director. "To have handled this level of intermodal volume, while reducing the time it takes for a container to move between rail and vessel operations, is a big win for our customers. We are just beginning to see this port's capabilities."

While the port handled more than 410,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units last month, an increase of 15.5 percent, rail volumes spiked by 26 percent for a total of 82,135 TEUs. In addition, GPA achieved a record low dwell time for intermodal boxes in March, with containers averaging just 27 hours from vessel to outbound rail.

The Mason Mega Rail project, which will double the Port of Savannah's rail lift capacity to 1 million containers per year, is 25 percent complete. The first phase will come online by October 2019, and the second phase will become operational by the end of 2020.

"Our rail expansion will allow Garden City Terminal to accommodate additional 10,000-foot long unit trains and provide direct rail service to inland markets such as St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "By stepping up to the plate to bring on additional rail capacity, we are expanding the size and scope of Georgia's market reach."

Not only is the Port of Savannah handling more rail cargo, it is moving the intermodal boxes faster than ever. In just one year alone, the dwell time for such cargo was reduced by 50 percent. For the fiscal year to date, containers moved by rail are up 22 percent, compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year, to reach 701,000 TEUs.