Fulfill Team·November 1, 2026·Add Fulfill as a preferred source on GoogleFor an Atlanta importer, much of what a container costs is decided after the ship docks: how fast the box leaves the terminal, how it travels inland, and how soon the empty goes back. This guide covers how drayage works from Savannah to Atlanta and north Georgia, which charges start when, the public rates as read on October 30, 2026, and how to choose a carrier.
The Port of Savannah includes Garden City Terminal and Ocean Terminal. Garden City covers 1,345 acres with immediate access to I-16 and I-95, and from it a container reaches Atlanta and north Georgia one of three ways.
| Route | How the container moves | Where the last truck picks it up |
|---|---|---|
| Truck from the port | A drayage carrier pulls it at Garden City and drives it inland | The terminal gate |
| Rail to Atlanta | CSX or Norfolk Southern loads it at Mason Mega Rail, at the port | The railroad's terminal in the Atlanta area |
| Rail to an inland port | CSX runs it to the Appalachian Regional Port, or Norfolk Southern to the Gainesville Inland Port | The inland port's gate |
For trucks, the Georgia Department of Transportation's $126 million Brampton Road Connector, which the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced in July 2026 would open that month, is a four-lane highway linking Garden City Terminal's Gate 3 directly to the interstate system.
On the rail side, CSX and Norfolk Southern both call on Mason Mega Rail, which GPA owns and operates on 85 acres at the Port of Savannah. It works 42 trains per week, and GPA lists Atlanta among the inland destinations its double-stack rail service reaches. Rail does not remove the truck: an intermodal dray still carries the container from the rail terminal to your dock.
The inland ports matter most when the warehouse sits in north Georgia. GPA describes an inland port as a rail-connected hub where cargo can be transferred between rail and truck closer to its final destination.
Announcing Gainesville's grand opening, GPA framed the choice this way: customers can now choose rail for greater affordability and for heavier loads, or truck-only for faster transit. For north Georgia, price the inland port's rail move plus its short dray against a full truck move from Savannah.
GPA's terminal schedule requires anyone who needs frequent and regular unescorted access to its facilities, defined as more than five times in a one-year period, to hold a GPA-issued credential and the federal TWIC card.
In June 2026, GPA reported that its Savannah terminals handle more than 14,000 truck gate moves on an average weekday, with truck turn times averaging 32 minutes for a single transaction and 50 minutes for a dual move. Its GPA Trucker app shows drivers where a container sits and pushes digital gate tickets to their phones; the app is optional at Garden City Terminal, but truck gates at the smaller Ocean Terminal now rely exclusively on digital tickets.
Before you book the dray, check the container in GPA's WebAccess tool by container number, bill of lading or vessel. At the gate, federal rules put the equipment check on the driver: a driver preparing to haul intermodal equipment must inspect a listed set of components, from service brakes and lights to tires and locking pins, and a driver who takes it over the road is deemed to have confirmed those parts were in good working order (49 CFR 392.7(b)).
Every import container in Savannah runs on two clocks: the terminal's, while the loaded box sits at Garden City, and the ocean carrier's, while you keep its container.
The terminal's clock is public. GPA gives a loaded international import seven consecutive calendar days of free time, starting at the first 12:01 a.m. after the container is unloaded (MTO Schedule No. 5, rule 5-132, effective October 1, 2026). After that, rule 5-148 charges storage per TEU per day: $19.08 for days 1 to 3, $33.66 for days 4 to 6, $48.25 for days 7 to 20 and $96.50 for each additional day. A 40-foot container counts as 2 TEUs, so its daily charge is double. GPA assesses these charges against the ocean carrier or its authorized agent unless it agrees to invoice another party (rule 5-113).
Added up, GPA storage on a 40-foot import that stays past its free time comes to $114 after 3 days, $316 after 6, $702 after 10 and $1,667 after 20.
The carrier's clock is set by its tariff or your service contract. The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) puts the difference this way: demurrage accrues when a container exceeds free time on a marine terminal, and detention is charged for extended use of intermodal equipment. Its billing rules count per diem charges in the same family (46 CFR 541.3).
The FMC also sets how these charges are billed. An ocean carrier or marine terminal operator must issue a demurrage or detention invoice within 30 calendar days of the date the charge was last incurred (a non-vessel-operating common carrier, within 30 days of the invoice it received), or you are not required to pay it, and the billing party must allow you at least 30 calendar days from the invoice to request mitigation, refund or waiver (46 CFR 541.7 and 541.8). The invoice must show the allowed free time, its start and end dates and, for imports, the container availability date; missing required information eliminates any obligation to pay (46 CFR 541.5 and 541.6). And under the FMC's interpretive rule, detention imposed when empty containers cannot be returned is likely to be found unreasonable, absent extenuating circumstances (46 CFR 545.5).
The Appalachian Regional Port keeps its own clock: loaded containers there get the day of arrival plus five calendar days of free time.
A container rides on a chassis. GPA has designated the South Atlantic Consolidated Chassis Pool (SACP) as the exclusive chassis pool operator at Garden City Terminal and Ocean Terminal, covering every chassis in the pool except tri-axle and underslung genset chassis.
SACP sets its own rental rates. Its base rates, effective October 1, 2026, start at $27.56 a day for a user with up to 100,000 usage days and fall to $12.81 a day above 500,000, and the volume count restarts each October 1. If your loads need a tri-axle chassis, ask the carrier how it will supply one.
Chassis days add up when a container waits on wheels at your dock. GPA makes the same point about its Gainesville inland port, where grounded storage lets customers reduce chassis fees compared with wheeled storage at their own facilities.
We found no dated public source for a Savannah-to-Atlanta drayage rate, so this guide prints none. What you can price in advance are the public charges around the move.
| Charge | Who sets it | Public rate, read October 30, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal storage after free time | GPA, MTO Schedule No. 5 | $19.08 to $96.50 per TEU per day |
| Chassis rental at Garden City | SACP | Base rate $27.56 a day in the lowest volume tiers, down to $12.81 |
| Demurrage and per diem | The ocean carrier's tariff or your service contract | Set per carrier; the invoice must name the rule its daily rate is based on |
| The truck move | The drayage carrier | Quoted per move; none of the carrier pages we read publish a rate |
Four habits keep those charges small:
Ask every carrier the same questions before you tender a container:
Fulfill.com partner First To Final Logistics is an Atlanta-based 3PL, founded in 2023, that runs drayage alongside the warehouse work a container needs once it reaches Atlanta. Per its own site, it offers:
Its Fulfill.com profile names the fit: companies importing via ocean containers that need transloading, devanning and palletizing to avoid demurrage and per diem charges, and sellers of heavy, bulky or oversized products such as tires, furniture and appliances. Its site says it runs a nationwide network out of its Atlanta hub, and that a specialist maps out storage, drayage and fulfillment once you ask for a quote.
Seven consecutive calendar days at GPA's terminals, counted from the first 12:01 a.m. after the container is unloaded. After that, GPA charges storage per TEU per day, from $19.08 for days 1 to 3 up to $96.50 for each additional day.
Per the FMC, demurrage accrues when a container exceeds free time on a marine terminal, and detention is charged for extended use of intermodal equipment. FMC billing rules count per diem charges in the same family.
A GPA rail terminal in Gainesville, Georgia, served by Norfolk Southern five days a week. It opened on May 4, 2026, will have an annual capacity of 200,000 containers at full build-out and is reached by truck from I-85 and I-985.
If you would rather hand the dray, the unload and the storage to one warehouse, tell us what you import and where it ships, and we will match you with 3PLs that fit.
We read each source on October 30, 2026:
First To Final Logistics' descriptions come from its own website and its Fulfill.com profile; Averitt's and IMC Logistics' from their own Savannah and Atlanta pages.
Disclosure: First To Final Logistics is a Fulfill.com vendor partner. Fulfill.com is paid when readers click through to its website.
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