WASHINGTON: The Port of Virginia announced its annual container volume numbers on Tuesday, and the results are strong: 2.7 million TEU, a port record and the fourth consecutive fiscal year of growth. The port also handled 230,000 TEU in June, an increase of seven percent over the same period last year. “The Port of Virginia team and its labor partners accomplished a lot in fiscal year 2017,” said port CEO and executive director John F. Reinhart. “We grew in the right areas, we moved a record-amount of volume across all modes of transportation . . . and we continue to improve our service levels. The $670 million we are investing to expand the capabilities and capacity at The Port of Virginia are aimed at sustaining this trend into the next several decades.”
The port is in the process of expanding capacity at its two primary container terminals, Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) and Virginia International Gateway (VIG). The port is investing $320 million to double container capacity at VIG and $350 million to renovate the south container yard at NIT. In June, the port opened a new 26-lane gate at NIT, a $42 million investment that will increase the throughput of trucks. Port of Virginia’s many highlights for the year included a new longterm lease for VIG; the signing of the world’s largest contract for automated stacking cranes; federal approval of the East Coast Gateway Terminal Agreement between Georgia Ports Authority and Port of Virginia; and the arrival of the 13,000 TEU COSCO Development, the largest container vessel ever to call the East Coast. The port hopes to benefit from the arrival of many more large ships thanks to its investment in capacity.
