NORFOLK: We first met John Reinhart, CEO and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority, when Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage by Somali pirates April 8, 2009. At that time, Reinhart was president and CEO of Maersk Line Limited that operated the Maersk Alabama, of which Phillips was captain.
Reinhart was hired at the Port of Virginia, in part, because he fixes things. And that is exactly what John Reinhart has done at the port, since taking over in February 2014.
Consider this: when Reinhart arrived at the port, it had lost $102 million in operating costs over six years. In one year, Reinhart has turned that around. By the end of June, the fiscal-year profit is expected to be $6.2 million dollars that is a $22.8 million turnaround since the 2014 loss of $16.6 million. Cargo volume is also skyrocketing.The numbers may reflect that things are great at the port, but many truck drivers say it has never been worse.
Reinhart’s reply is, “Do you remember the movie ‘Field of Dreams?’ If you build it, they will come. We’ve got the reverse. They’re coming and we haven’t built the field. We’ve got a lot of work to do, so we’ve just got to get it going.”
Truckers at the port told 10 On Your Side they aren’t going anywhere fast when doing business at the Virginia International Gateway, known as VIG in Portsmouth. Chriscina Grayson shared the sentiment of many fellow truckers: “How long have I been waiting? About two hours, two hours! What do I think about that? I think it is ridiculous. It is ridiculous.”
