Port of Virginia box volumes steady in February

The mid-Atlantic port saw monthly container throughput slip 0.2 percent to 220,726 TEUs compared with the previous February, while overall cargo tonnage grew 3.3 percent year-over-year to 1.71 million tons.    The Port of Virginia handled 220,726 TEUs in February 2017, a 0.2 percent decrease from the the previous year, according to the Virginia Port Authority (VPA).
   Terminals controlled by the mid-Atlantic port saw imports of loaded containers fall 3 percent to 99,883 TEUs compared with February 2016, while laden exports jumped 4.4 percent to 82,065 TEUs for the month. Throughput of empty containers, on the other hand, surged 91.3 percent to 3,758 import TEUs and dropped 4.6 percent to 35,021 TEUs of exports.
   Overall, general cargo tonnage at Port of Virginia grew 3.3 percent year-over-year to 1.71 million tons in February.
   Through the first eight months of the port’s fiscal 2017 year, which began July 2016, total container volumes rose 6.9 percent to 1.71 million TEUs compared with the same period in fiscal year 2016.
   John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA), noted comparisons with February 2016 are slightly skewed by the fact that the month was one day longer due to leap year.
   “February 2016 was 29 days long versus 28, so our cargo flows remain consistent with a good balance in our export-import trade,” said Reinhart. “We are preparing for a period of significant activity as the new alliance vessel calls begin in April and the construction work begins to progress.
   “Our messages of expansion, our capacity to handle the large vessels and our ability to move that cargo to market by either train truck or barge are gathering traction within the industry,” he added. “We remain focused on the goal of consistency during this transition period.”
   VPA in February commenced work on a $320 million expansion project at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) container terminal in Portsmouth, which will nearly double the terminal’s annual cargo handling capability.
   The project is the first of two large-scale expansion projects that, together with a project at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT), will increase the port’s overall annual container handling capacity by 40 percent, or 1 million container lifts by 2020.