Discover insights on one of the Port of Savannah’s most operationally significant industrial outdoor storage transactions. RIVR RE has represented both the landlord and tenant on a new three-year Industrial Outdoor Storage (IOS) lease at 348 Commerce Drive, Savannah, Georgia. The tenant — Marine Repair Services-Container Maintenance Corporation (MRS-CMC) — is one of the nation’s leading intermodal equipment depot and maintenance operators, and will use the 7-acre site as a container storage, maintenance and repair, and depot services facility in the Savannah port market. David Gaule of RIVR acted on behalf of both parties throughout the transaction.

The dual-representation mandate marks RIVR’s growing position as the IOS advisory firm of choice in the Savannah port corridor — a market where the firm has now completed transactions for institutional investors, auto exporters, container depot operators, and IOS platform buyers.

About MRS-CMC — Container Maintenance Corporation

Marine Repair Services-Container Maintenance Corporation (MRS-CMC) is one of the United States’ largest and most established intermodal equipment services companies, with over 48 years of operational history serving the marine and rail sectors. The company provides a comprehensive range of depot services including container repair, maintenance and storage, equipment sales, drayage and trucking through CMC Logistics, refrigerated container services, and the redistribution of intermodal equipment — operating with what the company describes as the nation’s largest maintenance and repair footprint.

MRS-CMC’s strategic presence in Savannah is not incidental — Savannah is one of its anchor markets. The company was among the first operators to deploy a loaded container storage solution in Savannah in response to the terminal congestion and supply chain capacity challenges that created acute demand for off-terminal container storage. The success of that initiative in Savannah led MRS-CMC to expand the programme to 18 depot locations nationally — making Savannah the proof-of-concept market for what became a nationwide service offering.

MRS-CMC is strategically located in Charleston, Memphis, and Savannah, with CMC Logistics providing drayage and trucking services to global steamship lines, cargo owners, and leasing companies. The 348 Commerce Drive lease adds a further site to MRS-CMC’s Savannah depot network — expanding the firm’s capacity to serve the Georgia Ports Authority terminals and the shipping lines, beneficial cargo owners, and logistics operators that depend on their services.

Why Container Depot IOS Is Among the Most Operationally Critical Asset Classes at the Port

Container depot operators like MRS-CMC serve a function that is invisible to most observers but essential to the port’s operational continuity. When shipping lines need their containers inspected, repaired, cleaned, or stored between voyages, they require depot facilities with the yard space, equipment, and certified technicians to process high volumes of containers rapidly and to IICL and AAR standards.

A 7-acre IOS site is the minimum viable footprint for meaningful depot operations — it provides enough ground-level space to stage containers for inspection, route them through repair workflows, store them pending redistribution, and manoeuvre the reach-stackers and yard trucks that handle container movements. Sites of this scale, with appropriate zoning and port proximity, are consistently among the most sought-after and tightest-supply industrial assets in the Savannah market.

The Port of Savannah processes millions of TEUs annually, and the container maintenance, repair, and storage ecosystem that surrounds it generates sustained, non-cyclical demand for port-proximate IOS facilities. Unlike speculative industrial development that rises and falls with the economic cycle, depot services demand is structurally tied to port throughput — a volume-driven metric that has grown consistently at Savannah for more than a decade.

RIVR’s IOS Track Record at the Port of Savannah

The MRS-CMC transaction is RIVR’s fourth completed IOS transaction in the Savannah port market, alongside the $6.2 million sale of 290-310 Telfair Road to Open Industrial, the Savannah Auto Export IOS lease at Barrow Drive, and the $1.5 million sale of the 748 US Highway 80 warehouse and IOS site in Ellabell. That concentration of IOS advisory experience across sales, acquisitions, and leasing — on both the institutional investment side and the operational tenant side — gives RIVR an unmatched understanding of the Savannah IOS market’s supply, demand, pricing, and tenant requirements.

IOS Leasing Near the Port of Savannah — Talk to RIVR

RIVR RE specialises in IOS leasing and sales across Savannah’s port-adjacent industrial corridors. We represent landlords with IOS-capable sites seeking operational tenants, and port-related operators requiring container depot, vehicle staging, or logistics yard space near the Georgia Ports Authority terminals.

Contact David Gaule or Mandy Henderson directly.

Email: info@rivr.re | Phone: 912 307 9998

→ Learn more about RIVR’s industrial leasing services → Read about the $6.2M IOS sale at 290-310 Telfair Road → Read about the Savannah Auto Export IOS lease at Barrow Drive → View all RIVR transaction announcements