Grand Alliance commits to 10 years at Virginia ports

Grand Alliance commits to 10 years at Virginia ports    The Virginia Port Authority announced Friday that its operating company, Virginia International Terminals Inc., signed the largest contract in the port’s history with the Grand Alliance, the port’s top customer.
   The 10-year, $500-million contract guarantees that vessels of the Grand Alliance, which includes NYK Line, OOCL, CP Ships and Hapag-Lloyd, will call at the VPA terminal in Norfolk through 2016.
   “The Grand Alliance operates six weekly services linking The Port of Virginia with major markets in Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Europe, the Middle East and South America,” Tom Capozzi, VPA’s senior managing director of marketing, said in a statement. “Over the last five years, its volume has grown in excess of 80 percent to well over 300,000 TEUs annually, making them VIT’s biggest customer. This contract assures the Grand Alliance it will have the ability to grow its business at the Port of Virginia over the next 10 years.”
   The Grand Alliance contract is the latest in a growing list of long-term agreements VIT has signed with its customers. In 2005 China Shipping Container Lines, Turkon and the consortium known as CKYH all signed 10-year contracts that guarantee space at VPA terminals.