King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands visited the United States for four days over the summer. The royal pair spent one full day in Savannah, Georgia. They met with the Georgia Ports Authority CEO and other government officials to discuss a trade concept called “hinterland connectivity.” Why Savannah, in particular?
The Netherlands is a maritime trade leader in Europe. Maritime trade is that which moves goods by way of ships. The Port of Rotterdam is the 10th busiest port in the world. The Port of Savannah is the fourth busiest U.S. seaport for container cargo ships. That makes Savannah crucial in America’s international trade relationships. The Netherlands and the United States have established trade that flows freely between the two ports.
After their meetings and tours of the city’s historic and cultural sites, the royal couple visited Savannah’s port. Major ports are gateways to serving and supplying areas inland (the hinterlands). If a good system is established at a port of entry, then movement of goods throughout a country will generally run smoothly as well. That system of moving goods is called hinterland connectivity.
Most ports accept goods in cargo shipping containers. These giant metal boxes transport products ranging from automobiles to consumer electronics to frozen chickens. Last year, Savannah handled 4.9 million container units. Only New York City, Los Angeles, and Long Beach, California, had greater volume in the United States. These containers are sized to transfer from ships to trains and some semi-trucks. So products can often move from sea to land to your city or another transfer point in the same container.
Savannah’s port provides easy access to the U.S. hinterlands. Goods received at port can move inland from the coast via the Savannah River, a network of railway lines, or a pair of intersecting interstate highways.
Trade between Georgia and the Netherlands reached almost $3 billion last year, says the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
The state of Georgia exported about $1.8 billion worth of products to the Netherlands last year. The state imported approximately $1.2 billion in goods from the Netherlands. This trade volume boosts both economies, which benefits the two countries’ citizens. Think about all the processes involved in commerce. Acquiring raw materials, creating or growing a product, prepping, packing, loading, transporting, unloading, distributing, implementing or selling. . . Every step creates jobs for people!
From Savannah, the royals continued their time in the United States by visiting New York. They participated in more economic trade conversations before heading home.
Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters. — Psalm 107:23
Why? A healthy system of importing and exporting goods helps national economies—and workers at all levels of production and distribution.
