WASHINGTON: The port saw a 2.4 percent uptick in cargo-container volume in April, the Virginia Port Authority announced Thursday. The number of containers, measured in standard 20-foot units, or TEUs, rose to 215,254 units, from 210,177 units in the same month last year.
“Our volumes were modest and we see some softness in the market in the coming months,” John Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, said in a statement. He cited the growing importance of two port facilities in other parts of the state – the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal and the Richmond Marine Terminal – as efforts continue to add more capacity.
Volumes at those facilities last month were up 10 percent and 12 percent, respectively, year over year. The number of rail containers moved through the port last month grew 3.5 percent from a year earlier, while truck-container volume rose 1.1 percent. For the first 10 months of the July-June fiscal year, total TEU volume at the port was up 3.5 percent year over year; rail container volume was up 9.5 percent and truck container volume was virtually flat, at 0.1 percent.
