Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Savannah

Savannah, by road

The container port sits on the Savannah River, with I-16 running west to Atlanta and I-95 along the coast. The Savannah area sits in Georgia, and the freight pattern follows the roads above.

Georgia Ports Authority moved 5.7 million TEUs in fiscal year 2025, up 8.6 percent, the Port of Savannah's second-busiest year.

Warehousing and storage is where this area is most concentrated, at 2.5 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Bryan, Chatham and Effingham counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 92 establishments between them. Port Wentworth (31407) leads with 31, 33.7 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Chatham County has 5,252 warehousing jobs, 82.3 percent of the 6,384 in the Savannah area.
• Bryan County has 1,019 warehousing jobs, 16.0 percent of the 6,384 in the Savannah area, 4,233 fewer than Chatham.
• Effingham County has 113 warehousing jobs, 1.8 percent of the 6,384 in the Savannah area, 5,139 fewer than Chatham.
• Savannah (31408) has 2 fewer warehousing establishments than Port Wentworth (31407), 29 against 31.
• Rincon (31326) has 17 fewer warehousing establishments than Port Wentworth (31407), 14 against 31.
• Savannah (31405) has 22 fewer warehousing establishments than Port Wentworth (31407), 9 against 31.
• Pooler (31322) has 22 fewer warehousing establishments than Port Wentworth (31407), 9 against 31.
• Chatham County's 5,252 is 6.2 percent of all 84,730 warehousing jobs in Georgia.
• Bryan County's 1,019 is 1.2 percent of all 84,730 warehousing jobs in Georgia.
• Effingham County's 113 is 0.1 percent of all 84,730 warehousing jobs in Georgia.
• ZIP 31407 in Port Wentworth ranks number 1 of the five, with 31 warehousing establishments, 33.7 percent of their combined total and 3.44 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 31408 in Savannah ranks number 2 of the five, with 29 warehousing establishments, 31.5 percent of their combined total and 3.22 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 31326 in Rincon ranks number 3 of the five, with 14 warehousing establishments, 15.2 percent of their combined total and 1.56 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 31405 in Savannah ranks number 4 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 9.8 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 31322 in Pooler ranks number 5 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 9.8 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Warehousing and storage employs 6,384 in the area, 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 1,386 in the area (partial), 0.22 for every warehousing job.
• Georgia's meat and poultry processing employment, 42,030, is 6.58 times the Savannah area's warehousing jobs.
• Georgia's refrigerated warehousing employment, 4,453, is 0.70 times the Savannah area's warehousing jobs.
• Georgia's warehousing and storage employment, 84,730, is 13.27 times the Savannah area's warehousing jobs.
• Georgia's food manufacturing employment, 74,165, is 11.62 times the Savannah area's warehousing jobs.
• Atlanta, also in Georgia, has 49,050 warehousing jobs, 7.68 times Savannah's.
• Gainesville, GA, also in Georgia, has 656 warehousing jobs, 0.10 times Savannah's.

Who ships pallets here

In Savannah, warehousing and storage employs 6,384. Most of the demand is for general pallets in the common footprint, with the choice split between rack service and block stacking. It tends to lean on rackable where the pallet lives on beams, stackable for block stacking, nestable for the empties that go back, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the racking load, and the beam span it was rated on.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 92 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Savannah sent back 1,200 empty pallets in a week, that would be 110,400 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

In its state

Among the 3 metros of Georgia that have a page here, Savannah ranks number 2 by warehousing jobs.

Savannah holds 7.5 percent of Georgia's 84,730 private warehousing jobs. See the Georgia page for the whole state.

Other metros in Georgia with their own page: Atlanta and Gainesville, GA.

Interstates serving the area: I-95.

Words on this page

TEU

Twenty-foot equivalent unit, the standard way ports count containers. A 40 ft container is two TEUs.

Location quotient

A place's share of employment in a trade divided by the national share. Above 1 means the trade is more concentrated there than average.

ZIP Code Business Patterns

A Census Bureau series that counts establishments by ZIP code and industry.

Recycled content

The share of a pallet moulded from reground plastic. Makers print it as a range, often by colour.

Stretch wrap

Elastic film wound around a loaded pallet to hold the load together.

4-way entry

A pallet that forks or a pallet jack can enter from all four sides.

Drayage

The short haul of a container between a port or rail ramp and a warehouse.

Static load

The weight a pallet holds while standing still on a flat floor, spread evenly across the deck. It is the highest of the three ratings.

Slip sheet

A thin sheet of plastic or fibreboard used under a load in place of a pallet, handled by a push-pull attachment.