By GABE JORDAN

gabe.jordan@gaflnews.com

CORDELE — Economic development officials in Cordele and Crisp County are optimistic the area’s existing rail infrastructure will lead to a significant new source of jobs.

The concept is called an “inland port,” and Bruce Drennan, executive director of the Cordele-Crisp County Industrial Development Council, said Cordele is poised to become a major player in international transportation — all thanks to its late-19th-century roots as a railroad hub.

“The inland port project could expand Cordele’s origin to a global level,” Drennan said. “We just happen to be situated in the right place geographically.”

Cordele’s geographic advantages are its proximity to the port of Savannah and the fact that three major roads — I-75, Ga. 300 and U.S. 280 — run through the area. It also helps that, as fuel prices begin to rise, transportation of raw and finished goods by rail is becoming economically preferable to using tractor-trailers.

Drennan and other economic developers in the region are hoping to capitalize on the area’s existing rail infrastructure and begin moving freight that is now being hauled by semi into and out of the port of Savannah directly there by rail. Three rail lines — CSX, Norfolk-Southern, and the Heart of Georgia shortline — operate on tracks running through Cordele and Crisp County.

“Nine to ten percent of the containers shipped out of the port of Savannah are destined for delivery within a 250-mile radius of Cordele,” Drennan said. “The same goes for containers filled with goods heading into the port for delivery across the globe.”

Drennan said an inland port here would ease congestion at the port in Savannah. Containers that would originally travel to or from the port by road would instead be loaded or unloaded here. Drennan pointed out that two 40-foot containers can be shipped from Cordele to Savannah, or vice versa, by rail for the same cost as one container of the same size being shipped by semi.

That means lower costs for shippers and more jobs for the area.

“It’s a proven concept that is working now in other areas of the country,” Drennan said. “Georgia Tech has conducted three separate feasibility studies that show it would work here in Cordele, too.”

Crisp County Administrator Gene Crapse said the project is at the top of the county commission’s priority list.

“It would be a life-changing event for us to see this project come to fruition,” Crapse said.

“The inland port could mean thousands of jobs for this area,” Drennan said. “And the jobs would be tied to the world economy which is booming now despite the downturn we’re seeing in the U.S.”