Cordele’s Inland Port Ground Breaking Ceremony

Americus Times-Recorder, Americus, Georgia  July 14, 2010

Peggy King The Americus Times-Recorder

Ground broken for intermodal center

Cordele — Seven years after Heart of Georgia Railroad CEO Brad Lafevers pitched his idea for growing his business to Cordele-Crisp IDC Executive Director Bruce Drennan, Cordele’s Inland Port is about to become reality.

Lafevers and Drennan, along with Cordele Intermodal Services Inc. President Jonathan Lafevers and numerous government officials, conducted a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the facility Wednesday morning.

In thanking all those who have made the project possible, Lafevers said, it’s a “good day.” After conceiving the idea for the inland port, he said he hooked up with Drennan who “grasped the benefit of the project immediately. We have been in lockstep since day one,” he added.

The facility will be located at the intersection of 13th Ave. East and Burnette Boulevard in the Cordele Industrial Park. “Soon machinery will move in, and construction will begin,” Lafevers said.

Lafevers conjectures that this will be “a bustling logistics hub that will be good for the entire region” within a year. The intermodal center will help attract other industry, he added.

Jonathan Lafevers also extended his “thank yous,” and said, “the real journey has just begun. I’m excited about the prospects.”

Since information about the groundbreaking ceremony was publicized several weeks ago, he said, “We’ve gotten lots of phone calls. Considerable interest has been generated.”

On behalf of the Crisp County Industrial Development Council for which he serves as chairman, Bub Denham commended Drennan and Brad Lafevers for their perseverance. “They worked long and hard to get to this point,” he said, in spite of some setbacks.

“Most things are accomplished by people who keep trying when there seems to be no hope,” Crisp County Commission Chairman James Nance said, as he commended the efforts of many people who didn’t give up on the inland port project.

Former State Rep. Johnny Floyd, who now serves on the state Department of Transportation board of directors, introduced numerous other DOT board members who attended the groundbreaking ceremony and said, “We hope this project will put people back to work.”

This is a way to get back some of the manufacturing jobs Georgia has lost, Floyd added. The Heart of Georgia rail track, along with U.S. Highway 280 have been designated by the state as “Power Alley,” he said, which means that additional funding is available for improvements.

Bonds for necessary repairs to the rail line were approved in 2009 by the governor and the legislature, State Rep. Buddy Harden said, which removed one of the major obstacles to the intermodal project.

“Bruce Drennan and Brad Lafevers had the vision for this facility seven years ago,” Harden said, “and they stayed the course in spite of numerous obstacles. Today makes that economic vision a living working reality.”

State Sen. Dickie Crosby brought greetings from Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle who has been a strong supporter of the project, Crosby said. “He is a friend and will continue to be a friend,” he said.

“Not only will this project lead to the creation of over 2,500 new jobs,” Cagle said in his letter, “it will bring even more economic opportunities to the area as new businesses locate at this strategic logistics center ... I commend both the Crisp County-Cordele Industrial Development Authority and Cordele Intermodal Services for their hard work and efforts to make this public-private partnership possible.”

Concluding, Cagle’s letter said, “Please accept my best wishes and congratulations on this day.”

Speaking on behalf of the City of Cordele, Commission Chairman Zack Wade said a community begins to die if growth stops. “This is proof that Crisp County is not dying. We have the potential for economic expansion here. Let’s all pull together and make South Central Georgia what it can be.”

With the new intermodal facility in Cordele, container service will be provided from Cordele to Savannah and from Savannah to Cordele via the Heart of Georgia and Georgia Central railroads.

Containers from within a 350-mile radius of Cordele will be brought here by truck, then railed to Savannah for final delivery overseas. Containers coming in through the port destined for delivery to this same area will be brought to Cordele by rail for final delivery to this same area by truck.

Activity at the new facility should begin as early as October of this year.

At the conclusion of the speeches under a tent Wednesday morning, everyone moved out into the open, and all the principals participated in the actual groundbreaking ceremony with specially designed shovels.