Port of Virginia makes headway on channel expansion plans

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has officially backed a rough draft plan to deepen and widen the mid-Atlantic port’s main shipping channel, a port spokesperson confirmed Friday.    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has officially backed a rough draft plan to deepen the Port of Virginia’s main shipping channel from 50 feet to 55 feet and widen it from 1,000 feet to 1,200 feet, a port spokesperson confirmed Friday morning.
   In addition, the Thimble Shoal Channel would be deepened to 56 feet, while the Atlantic Ocean Channel would be deepened to 59 feet.
   The so-called “55-foot project” is expected to cost between $266 million and $324 million, and be split 50-50 between federal and state funding.
   Another project to deepen sections of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River got the green light from the Army Corps.
   The “Southern Branch Project” is projected to cost between $130 million and $140 million, with the federal government funding 75 percent and the state paying the remaining 25 percent.
   Both projects will now enter an intensive review period with the Army Corps. Looking ahead, the hope is that a formal, final recommendation would be made to Congress by the end of 2018, which would have to reauthorize the 55-foot project and include it in the future Water Resources Development Act.
   If everything goes as planned, the Port of Virginia would have shipping channels deeper and wider that those currently used at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s busiest port, where the channels are 53 feet deep and the main channel is around 1,000 feet wide.
   American Shipper provided in depth coverage on various expansion projects underway at the Port of Virginia in its August magazine story, “Full Speed Ahead.”
   Ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool shows Norfolk is currently called by 31 liner services, consisting of 29 fully cellular container services, one con-ro service, and one roll-on/roll-off service.