A large number of jobs in the 17 counties served by the Heart of Georgia – Altamaha Region are related to the Savannah and Brunswick Ports.

According to study released Friday by the Georgia Ports Authority, over 17,000 jobs in agriculture, food processing, and manufacturing industries in the Heart of Georgia region depend on the ports including Chicken of the Sea, Trane, Inc., in Toombs County, and Claxton Poultry Farms in Evans County. Three of the largest crops native to the area are shipped through the ports including pecans, cotton, and of course, Vidalia Onions.

Breaking the figures down, 1,502 jobs in Toombs County are port-related, and 1,017 jobs in Emanuel County are. In fact, every one of the 17 counties in the Heart of Georgia -Altamaha Region document employment-based dependency on the ports.

The Heart of Georgia-Altamaha Region serves the counties of Appling, Bleckley, Candler, Dodge, Emanuel, Evans, Jeff Davis, Johnson, Laurens, Montgomery, Tattnall, Telfair, Toombs, Treutlen, Wayne, Wheeler, and Wilcox.

The study also shows that trade through Georgia’s ports yields $10 billion in federal taxes, $2.8 billion in state taxes, and $2.5 billion in local taxes annually.

A study by the University of Georgia says that Georgia ports support more than 600,000 jobs across the state.