Virginia ports? rail volume up 4.6 percent this year

Virginia portsÆ rail volume up 4.6 percent this year The Virginia Port Authority's rail traffic to and from its markets in the Midwest grew to more than 430,000 TEUs in fiscal 2007 and continues the trend of increasing rail volume, port officials said Tuesday.
   'We are seeing extremely heavy export volume coming out of the industrialized Midwest as American-made products are becoming more competitive due to the weak dollar,' said Thomas Capozzi, the port's senior director of marketing.
   In the last fiscal year, the port's Midwest rail volume increased 4.6 percent to 433,685 TEUs, from 414,508 TEUs in 2006. Moreover, June was the port's busiest month on record for Midwest rail volume: 44,006 TEUs here handled. The week of June 22-28 was a record-setter for weekly volume with 11,097 TEUs moved.
   The share of Virginia's cargo moved by rail has increased from 22 percent in 2004 to 29 percent this year as of June.
   At the Virginia Inland Port, the VPA-owned intermodal facility in Front Royal, 54,646 TEUs were handled in the first half of the calendar year, a decline of 8,748 TEUs, or 13.8 percent compared with the same period last year. The decline, the port said, can be attributed to the fact that VIP handled fewer empty containers. In the first six months of this year import loads grew 8 percent, export loads were up 5 percent and empties dropped 14 percent.
   'While our overall volume is down, our movement of loaded containers is growing at a healthy pace,' Capozzi said. 'This is significant because it means the VIP is establishing itself as a true intermodal routing point for both imports and exports. The steamship lines are doing a much better job of matching loads instead of repositioning empties prior to, or following the loaded move.'