SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Port of Brunswick rode double-digit growth to become the top U.S. seaport for automobiles last year, Georgia officials announced, surpassing the Port of Baltimore, which shut down for weeks after a deadly bridge collapse.

Georgia Ports Authority CEO Griff Lynch made the announcement during a luncheon speech last week in Brunswick, a small coastal city of 15,000 that state officials have turned into a leading gateway for automobile imports and exports, as well as for farm and construction equipment.

Brunswick’s port moved 841,000 cars and trucks across its docks in 2024. That’s an increase of more than 13% over the previous year. Lynch said the boom coincided with $262 million in improvements completed last fall that expanded Brunswick’s capacity for processing and storing autos.

“That’s huge. I can’t believe it myself,” Lynch said in a phone interview after his speech.

“This is one of those ‘If you build it, they will come’ situations.”

The Port of Baltimore led the U.S. in automobile imports and exports for more than a decade. But its total dropped 11% last year to fewer than 750,000 autos, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.

The steep drop followed the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last March, which shut down Baltimore’s shipping channel for weeks. Trade was slowed as the waterway reopened in phases, then was fully cleared in June.

In 2023, Baltimore handled a record 847,000 autos.

The Port of Brunswick often gets overshadowed by its larger companion port in Savannah, the fourth-busiest in the U.S. for retail goods and other commodities shipped in containers.

But Georgia officials have invested heavily in Brunswick, where Lynch said recent upgrades and expansions have caused automakers to shift business to Georgia from such neighboring ports as Charleston, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.