Savannah Chamber

19 3 Due to the essential need for healthcare and favorable demographic trends, the prospects for providers of ambulatory health care are very good. In 2022, we expect providers of nursing and residential care to benefit from an upturn in business that will lead to a sustainable recovery. The recovery may not be too vigorous, however, because family members will continue to provide more care to aged and ill relatives at home. On a more optimistic note, higher home prices will give homeowners who want to move into nursing and residential care facilities the means to do so. Assuming that the pandemic winds down, hospitals should see a solid, sustainable upturn in demand for their more profitable services. Nonetheless, it will take many years for hospitals to fully replace the jobs that were lost over 2020-21, especially in rural areas of the state. The bottom line is that Georgia's burgeoning older population will demand more healthcare services, which will broaden the industry's overall economic recover. Large numbers of baby boomers are reaching the age where the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and other care-intensive problems begin to rise rapidly. Of course, there's the question about who will pay the bills, which is a headwind for the healthcare industry's growth. Factors that will encourage providers of high-tech and highly specialized professional services to favor sites in Georgia--especially the Atlanta MSA--include the good business climate, logistical advantages in terms of serving far-flung clients, and the available professional workforce. For example, the Boston Consulting Group's decision to create a new regional support center in Atlanta reflects the ease of having a central geographic hub from which to serve clients throughout the Southeast. Assuming that the overall economy continues to grow, and the trade war does not intensify, the prospects for Georgia's transportation and logistics industry are excellent, thanks to the abundance of logistics and distribution projects already in the economic development pipeline. Improvements in the state's transportation infrastructure will expand the state's importance as a regional and nation logistics and distribution center. In 2022, this highly cyclical industry will benefit from more spending by consumers, increases in industrial production, more online retailing, more homebuilding, and population growth. In 2022, cargo volumes will outpace state and U.S. GDP growth--quite an accomplishment for an industry that typically moves in lockstep with the overall economy. The new Appalachian Regional Port is helping the Port of Savannah tap into new markets and will help economic developers bring more projects to Georgia. The Mason Mega-Rail Terminal at the Port of Savannah is nearly complete and will provide more frequent and faster rail services to the Midwest and the Ohio Valley. When ready, the terminal will double the Port of Savannah's rail capacity and it will be the largest on-dock rail terminal at any port in North America. Meanwhile, Savannah's harbor deepening project is about 90 percent complete. When finished, the high- tide depth of 54 feet will allow larger container ships to navigate the channel with fewer tidal and loading restrictions. The Port Authority recently approved the addition of 650,000 TEUs of container yard capacity as well as the renovation of Berth 1, which will boost the Garden City Terminal's annual berth capacity to 6 million TEUs. The Georgia Port Authority is also working on a second inland container port near I-985 in Gainesville that will take up to 200,000 containers per year to the Port of Savannah by rail. Many of the major distribution and logistics project announcements in 2020-21 will be building out. Amazon will have a new fulfillment center in Savannah that will create 1,000 full-time jobs. Freshly Inc.'s new distribution center in Clayton County will employ 665 workers. Vanderlande Industries, a global logistics company, announced a 500-job expansion of its North American headquarters in Marietta, and Bluestem Brands will increase their e-commerce distribution center in Eatonton by 130 jobs. Avid interest in home improvement pro jects spurred Home Depot's decision to open three new warehousing facilities, creating 1,000 jobs in the metro Atlanta area. Georgia's film industry ranked third to California and New York in the production of all feature films, and before the pandemic, was on pace to have a record-setting year in film production. Unfortunately, the

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