Virginia box volume rose 8.6% in 2010

Virginia box volume rose 8.6% in 2010    The Port of Virginia experienced an 8.6 percent increased in container volumes last year to 1.9 million TEUS, and overall tonnage grew 2.8 percent to 15.3 million short tons from the 2009 level, the Virginia Port Authority said late last month.
   The port hit its peak in 2007 when container volumes reached 2.13 million TEUs.
   By comparison, the Port of Savannah in Georgia recorded a 20 percent gain in container volume last year, reaching a historic high of 2.83 million TEUs.
   Norfolk fell out of the top five U.S. container ports to seventh place, replaced by the Port of Seattle, according to the latest import-only statistics from trade intelligence firm Zepol Corp. Inbound TEUs grew 10.77 percent at the Virginia port to 739,520 TEUs. The VPA's statistics varied from Zepol, showing import containers reached 889,648 TEUs, up from 816,868 TEUs.
   West Coast ports generally reported a bigger rebound in container volumes than East Coast ports in 2010.
   During December, TEU volumes fell 6.6 percent versus the same month in 2009.
   For the year, intermodal volumes at the Port of Virginia grew 13.1 percent to 261,399 units. Volumes were up 24.4 percent to 30,414 containers at the Virginia Inland Terminal and ship calls rose 4.7 percent to 1,841. Breakbulk, which represents a small amount of the port's business, grew 10.6 percent to 253,854 tons.
      Overall, 55 percent of shipments through the port were for exports and 45 percent were imports. Export TEUs were up 8.3 percent to 1 million and import TEUs grew 8.9 percent to 889,648. ' Eric Kulisch