China Shipping signs 10-year pact with Virginia port

China Shipping signs 10-year pact with Virginia port    The Virginia Ports Authority and China Shipping Container Lines have signed a contract guaranteeing the major ocean carrier will call at the Port of Virginia for the next decade.
   Under terms of the agreement, China Shipping will send a minimum of 30,000 containers a year through the port, starting in 2006.
   China Shipping's vessels call twice a week at Norfolk International Terminals, the largest of three deepwater marine terminals owned by the Virginia Ports Authority.
   Long-term carrier-port contracts are not the norm, said Joe Dorto, general manager of Virginia International Terminals Inc., the operating company for the port authority. Contracts are usually three-to-five years in duration, he explained.