The port has expanded use of Portsmouth Marine Terminal and increased chassis supply.
The Port of Virginia on Friday provided more details about measures it is taking to relieve congestion at the Virginia International Gateway terminal, which has been swamped with cargo since two winter storms last month snarled operations for several days.
Virginia Port Authority officials say the facility is over capacity and that its affiliated terminal management company is working hard to thin out the container stacks.
Local motor carriers are complaining that is taking them several hours to get in the gate to transfer a load. Truck traffic has spilled out on state Route 164 and the port even set up a bank of portable toilets near the gate to help drivers through the wait.
Although the immediate operational breakdown at VIG, which the state leases from private investors, is weather-related, it comes on top of broader backlogs related to systemic inefficiencies that have plagued Virginia and several other major ports for more than 18 months. Drayage drivers at the Port of Virginia, for example, continue to complain about a difficulty in obtaining chassis.
A portion of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal was permanently reopened last fall to provide extra capacity for container operations. One of the objectives was to have some shallow-draft vessels berth at PMT instead of the crowded VIG and Norfolk International Terminal. Those facilities have a harbor depth of 50 feet to accommodate the largest vessels.
After extended negotiations with carriers, the port authority said Friday it is shifting two vessel services to Portsmouth Marine Terminal, beginning March 21 with the call of the ZIM Haifa. The second shift will be March 28, when the Varamo, a vessel in Maersk Line’s South Atlantic Express service to Latin America, is scheduled to arrive. The Portsmouth Marine Terminal will begin receiving export loads for those services on Monday, March 16.
The port also announced two steps to address chassis supply. This week it will begin taking delivery of 400 40-foot chassis that will be integrated into the Hampton Roads Chassis Pool II during the next five weeks. Virginia International Terminals, the port’s operating arm, runs the chassis pool for the area, which is designed to be more efficient since carriers, stevedores and trucking companies lease equipment from one source rather than multiple private parties, as is common in several other ports. The port said it will continue to acquire more chassis in the coming months.
Where possible, the port will also begin removing empty and damaged containers currently being stored on chassis and stack them at terminals to better utilize the chassis. Port spokesman Joe Harris estimates this will free up about 100 chassis for immediate use.
On Thursday, the VPA announced a series of quick fixes and longer-term process improvements aimed at improving the flow of containers at VIG, including:
- Maintaining Sunday gates for truckers through the end of March.
- Using barge service to move containers a couple miles upriver to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, as an alternative to truck transport.
- Extending free time to ocean carriers for import containers at VIG for two days, ending Sat. March 14.
- Reducing the dwell time for export containers at all terminals from 10 days to nine.
- Extending evening gate hours until 9 p.m. from March 11-13.
- Establishing a stricter policy for empty containers to be returned at a near-dock drop yard.
- Creating extra space at VIG to segregate rail and truck cargo and minimize extra cargo handling.
- Requesting that ocean carriers evacuate as much outbound cargo as possible with each vessel.
- Using the 64 Express barge service, best known for its shuttle service to the Port of Richmond on the James River, to transfer intermodal cargo between VIG and Norfolk International Terminal, which are on opposite sides of the Elizabeth River..
Learn more about what Port of Virginia CEO John Reinhart, now on the job one year, is doing to improve productivity and customer service in the December magazine feature story, “On the Mend.”