Port leases APM Terminal in Virginia

Port leases APM Terminal in Virginia    Virginia Port Authority Executive Director Jerry A. Bridges Friday signed a 20-year lease agreement that effectively gives the agency control over operations at the APM Terminals container terminal in Portsmouth, Va.
   “This asset presents a host of opportunities for The Port of Virginia,” Bridges said. Last month, after the authority’s board approved the lease, he said it was possible “the most important day for The Port of Virginia since unification of the marine terminals back in 1982.
   The APM facility will now join the Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port, an intermodal operation in Front Royal, as facilities under VPA control.
   “All the major cargo operations in the harbor are going to be operated by the VPA and this creates and unparalleled set of opportunities for us,' Bridges said. 'It gives us ample container capacity now and in to the future; we will be able to market the technology and efficiency of this facility to our customers; and it gives us on-dock rail capabilities that we previously didn’t have.
   “In my experience this is the biggest deal of my career and I am very proud to have been part of it,” said Joseph A. Dorto, general manager and chief executive office of the authority’s operating arm, Virginia International Terminals (VIT). “I believe this cements a very, very bright future for the Port of Virginia and our customers.”
   Built at a cost of $450 million, the APM Terminal opened in 2007. It is regarded as one of the most sophisticated in the world, but was never able to attract large amounts of cargo because the VPA renewed contracts with most steamship lines calling Hampton Roads other than APMT’s sister company Maersk Line.
   The terminal is expected to be a particularly attractive asset as two major projects are completed. They are Norfolk Southern Railroad’s so-called “Heartland Corridor,” expected to be finished this year, giving double stack trains carrying high-cube boxes a shorter route between Hampton Roads and Chicago and the Panama Canal’s widening project, expected to be completed in 2014.
   Under the deal signed Friday, VPA will lease and manage all aspects of the Portsmouth, Va.-based marine terminal for the next 20 years. APMT’s ownership of the assets and land is unchanged. The official “handover” of the terminal is scheduled for July 6.
   The APM facility has a total of 576 acres and is able to handle 1 million TEUs of container cargo annually. APM said the value of the agreement was $800 million over the 20-year term, including annual lease payments and volume incentives. The terminal can be expanded further in the future.