Container handling through the port of Savannah and its neighbors rose by just 1.0% on a year earlier in October. A 3.1% decline in exports reflects poorly on the performance of the local economy. Yet, import growth remained healthy though with a 9.3% rise in imports of loaded containers being driven by a 17.8% surge in shipments from China. The surge likely reflects attempts by importers to get ahead of tariff increases in January though, as flagged by Maersk, that could rapidly reverse in the new year. The race to beat new tariffs in consumer goods was led by furniture importers where ...