Virginia Port Authority increases box density at PMT

The port also cut free time for export loads at its VIG terminal to ease the cargo backlog.    The Port of Virginia is grounding containers at its Portsmouth Marine Terminal to free up chassis and improve productivity for shuttle drivers, and is reducing free time for export loads at Virginia International Gateway. The steps are the latest in a series of moves by the port to address complaints of limited chassis availability and a recent spike in congestion throughout its terminals.
   Beginning March 19, VIG will temporarily reduce the window for delivery of exports to seven days from nine days, after last week reducing free time to nine days from 10 days. The move is designed to reduce the density of container stacks, which are currently at capacity.
   Meanwhile, at nearby Portsmouth Marine Terminal, the port’s in-house management company has mostly stored containers on wheeled frames ever since reopening a portion of the facility last September as a relief valve for the crowded Norfolk International and VIG terminals. PMT processed containers in the past, but the previous Virginia Port Authority administration sought to consolidate business at the under-utilized and more modern VIG facility and turn PMT into a breakbulk and general cargo facility. When non-container customers didn’t materialize, PMT was mothballed until VIG and NIT began to experience congestion problems as container businesses rebounded.
   Now space is becoming a premium at PMT too. On Tuesday, the port authority posted on update on its web site notifying drivers that the terminal now is a combined grounded/wheeled operation. Truckers are being reminded to contact customer service or use the online container tracking tool to confirm whether their container is on a chassis or in a stack.
   Drivers who arrive with a chassis and are instructed to park an export load with the trailer will be allowed to pick up a bare chassis to receive an import load, according to the notice. Virginia International Terminals can make those adjustments because it controls the entire chassis pool at the port.
   In the past week, the Virginia Port Authority has also announced plans to accept delivery of 400 chassis by April and that longshoremen are grounding empty containers and taking damaged ones for repair when they are discovered still resting on trailers.
   Officials are reminding port users that PMT is accepting export cargo. In order to optimize cargo handling resources, managers are operating the truck gates and yard during daytime hours and working vessels during the evening and overnight.
   The decisions are part of a broader effort to address congestion that has spiked in the past month as cargo flow bounced back after bad winter weather. The weather exacerbated more long-standing congestion problems experienced at the port during the past two years.