The mid-Atlantic port handled 220,000 TEUs of containerized cargo for the month, an increase of 2 percent from September 2015, after a record setting month in August, according to data from the Virginia Port Authority.
The Port of Virginia continued to grow its container cargo volumes in September following a record setting month in August, according to data from the Virginia Port Authority (VPA).
The mid-Atlantic port handled 220,000 TEUs of containerized cargo for the month, an increase of 2 percent from September 2015.
Although throughput was down slightly from an all-time port record of 235,511 TEUs in August, the VPA noted that September was the eighth straight month in which container volumes exceeded 210,000 TEUs.
Imports at the Port of Virginia surged 6.7 percent compared with the previous year to 102,928 TEUs, but overall volume growth was offset slightly by a 1.8 percent drop in exports to 116,930 TEUs.
Rail units rose 16.4 percent year-over-year for the month, truck volumes slipped 5.7 percent, and throughput at the Richmond Marine Terminal (RMT) grew 54.6 percent compared with September 2015.
RMT is a satellite ocean cargo facility about 95 miles inland on the James River in the state capital of Richmond that is served by a container-on-barge shuttle service managed by VPA’s terminal operator subsidiary, Virginia International Terminals. The shuttle service, which currently runs three times per week, helps the Port of Virginia maintain cargo fluidity by reducing pressure on storage, sorting, and providing retrieval capacity associated with truck transfers at crowded ocean terminals.
In addition, truckers that shuttle containers between the port can make more revenue-generating trips each day, rather than driving a long distance to the waterfront for a delivery and sometimes having to wait in long lines to enter a port terminal.
For the first nine months of 2016, container volumes at the port have grown 1.9 percent to 1.95 million TEUs compared with the corresponding period last year; rail units surged 11.8 percent year-over-year; and RMT volumes jumped 29.9 percent.
John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the VPA, said the port has been able to handle the increase in volumes in 2016 without disruption to service levels and productivity.
“We were well-prepared for the eventualities brought by Hurricane Matthew,” he added. “Our operations team collaborated closely with our labor partners and the U.S. Coast Guard to minimize the service disruption and we tailored our operations to ensure that we were productive and safe.
“We are moving toward a positive outcome for the year and we will be converting the momentum we gain from a solid performance into action as we near the start of construction at Virginia International Gateway,” said Reinhart.
“The work we do in these next three-to-four years is truly going to chart the Port of Virginia’s course to the future. We are executing our growth plan to build a sustainable operation and make the Port of Virginia a primary gateway for global trade.”
The VPA last month signed a 50-year extension of its lease for the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) container terminal, setting the table for work to begin on a $320 million expansion that will double its capacity.
The private facility is owned by Alinda Capital Partners, a Connecticut-based infrastructure investment firm and its U.K. pension fund partner, Universities Superannuation Scheme, which purchased it from global terminal operator APM Terminals (APMT) in late 2014.
Port of Virginia container growth continues in September
