Port of Virginia sets box volume record in October

The mid-Atlantic port handled 238,567 TEUs in October, making it the single-busiest month in the port’s history, while rail and barge volumes also increased from last October.    The Port of Virginia set a single-month record for container throughput in October, as ocean carriers continue to favor the mid-Atlantic facility because of its ability to handle extra-large vessels they are increasingly deploying to the U.S. East Coast, the port authority said Monday.
   Volumes ticked up 2.2 percent from October 2015 to 238,567 TEUs, according to the latest port statistics.
   October was also the second-busiest month in the port’s history for rail volumes, with a 12.8 percent increase to 48,561 box lifts compared to a year ago. It was also the best month for barge volumes to Richmond since the James River shuttle service was launched in 2008, with a 52 percent year-over-year increase to 1,676 containers. However, the boost in rail and barge traffic contributed to a 2.5 percent dip in truck volumes – a desired outcome because it reduces congestion on local roads and highways, as well as diesel pollution.
   “The peak-season cargo is continuing and the volumes are being carried on bigger vessels that are rotating into the Atlantic trade,” Port of Virginia Executive Director John F. Reinhart, said in a statement. “We are seeing ships in the 10,000-plus TEU range with regularity and larger vessels are on the horizon.”
   The port’s operating arm, Virginia International Terminals, was able to handle the extra cargo while dealing with the effects of Hurricane Matthew at the beginning of the month.
   October marks the eighth consecutive month of TEU volumes exceeding 210,000 standard shipping units and further growth is on the horizon with the recent announcement that the Port of Virginia figures heavily into the schedule of the new container industry alliances, the Ocean Alliance and The Alliance. Both alliances will begin operation in April and each will bring several new Asia and trans-Atlantic services to Virginia, including multiple first-in and last-out vessel calls, the port authority pointed out.
   Since the start of the calendar year, container volumes have increased 1.9 percent to 2.2 million TEUs, while rail moves in and out of terminals rose 12 percent, versus the same period a year ago. The Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal and the Richmond Marine Terminal have experienced 3 percent and 32 percent growth in containers handled, respectively. The Port of Virginia set a container record of 2.5 million TEUs in 2015.
   At the moment, the Port of Virginia is one of three ports on the East Coast with a 50-foot harbor that can handle fully loaded megaships coming either through the Suez Canal or the newly expanded Panama Canal from Asia. Its terminals in Norfolk and Portsmouth, however, are closer to the Midwest consumption zone that many importers are trying to reach at the lowest possible transportation cost than those in Miami, and are closer to the coast than Baltimore. Norfolk Southern provides double-stack intermodal service to Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago, while CSX is in the midst of a major project to increase bridges and tunnel clearance on its network so it can haul more containers on a single train to points north and west.
   Infrastructure upgrades underway, or in the pipeline, include adding a second truck entrance and automated gates at the Norfolk International Terminal and expanding the Virginia International Gateway to include more berth space for vessels, more rail capacity, additional ship-to-shore cranes and a larger container yard with semi-automated stacking machines. The projects are designed to improve traffic flow as volumes increase, allowing shippers to move imports and exports with few delays.
   By comparison, the Port of Charleston’s October volumes grew 2.9 percent year-over-year to 169,477 TEUs.