Cargo volume up 10% at Port of Virginia

   Cargo volume at the Port of Virginia rose 10.2 percent, or 18,316 TEUs, year-over-year in March, the port announced this week, but challenges still remain, according to port leadership.
   “It has been a very disciplined, team-oriented approach to stem the losses,” Chief Executive Officer John Reinhart said in a statement. “We had an operating profit of $150,000 in March; this is just one month and we need many more just like it and significantly better. Still, this is a beginning, something we can build upon, and reinforce the initiatives under way to rebuild The Port of Virginia. There remain significant systemic challenges that need to be corrected to reduce costs, improve services and velocity across the port.” 
   The port said March’s growth was led by imports, which increased by 12.8 percent – 10,248 TEUs – compared to March 2013. 
   Growth was also seen in breakbulk tonnage, 16.5 percent; rail containers, 5.3 percent; barge containers, 4.7 percent; and vehicle units, 27.9 percent, the port said.
   “This strong volume growth in all categories was managed well across our operations,” Reinhart said. “We continue our efforts to build velocity through the port by increasing productivity and process improvements.” 
   But, Reinhart noted that improvement steps are under way, with more plans coming this summer.
   “We’re talking about a process of continual evaluation, corrective action, improvement, investment and adaption that will carry the port into the next decade,” Reinhart said. “It is this process that will put us on a sound financial course going forward, but there is a lot of hard work ahead of us to build sustainability.”