Port of Virginia Blog

Senate Clears Path for Craney Expansion to Convey to VPA

Washington, DC – The US Senate today approved an amendment to The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) authorizing the federal government to convey the eastward expansion of Craney Island to the Virginia Port Authority (VPA).

The amendment clears the way for the 600-acre eastward expansion of Craney Island to convey to the VPA when the agency determines the time is right for the construction of the fourth state-owned marine terminal. That state-of-the-art terminal will be built on the expansion. Presently the VPA, in partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers, is engaged in a multi-year project to develop that 600-acre expansion.

The Craney amendment and two more that were specific to Virginia were championed by US Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Timothy M. Kaine (D-VA).

"This bipartisan bill provides common-sense fixes to allow progress to continue on this important project," Warner said. "By conveying authority over certain parts of Craney Island to the Virginia Port Authority, our amendment removes some of the red tape that has hindered a project that is vital to Virginia's economic development."

"I'm pleased we've passed this important legislation that is good for the country and will boost essential Virginia priorities," Kaine said. "This bill will advance a project of critical importance for the Virginia Port Authority and fix one of the barriers to restoring a Northern Virginia trail."

The Craney Island amendment provides for authorization for the Secretary of the Army to convey certain areas of the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area to the VPA.  Currently, the dredge material area and the eastward expansion project are owned and operated by the Corps; the eastward expansion project was approved in the 2007 version of the WRDA.

"The VPA wants to recognize the effort of the senators for their leadership in facilitating the next step for the eastward expansion of Craney Island," said Rodney W. Oliver, the VPA's interim executive director. "Their work in securing this land transfer will provide future capacity to handle seaborne cargo at The Port of Virginia."

Above: An engineer's rendering of the fully-completed Craney Island Marine Terminal.

Cargo Moving Across Port of Virginia Grew 5.7% in April

Norfolk – Cargo volumes at The Port of Virginia continued their climb as the number of TEUs handled in April grew 5.7 percent when compared with the same month last year.

In April, the port handled 179,370 TEUs, an increase of 9,726 units when compared with April 2012. Export TEUs tallied 96,261 and import TEUs were 83,109, an increase of 6.1 and 5.3 percent, respectively.

"Our year-to-date TEU volume is up 6.1 percent, a difference of nearly 40,000 TEUs," said Rodney W. Oliver, the Virginia Port Authority's interim executive director. "Our rail containers in April were up 16.4 percent when compared with last April and on a year-to-date level, rail is more than 14 percent ahead of where it was at this time last year. Customers are taking advantage of our strong rail connections and our first-in and last-out vessel calls."

Also in April:

• April was the sixth consecutive month of double-digit rail growth at the Port of Virginia; the average increase for the six-month period is 19.6 percent.
• Combined, the first for months of 2013 represent the second best start to a calendar year for TEUs in the history of the port. The TEU volume handled in that period was just 10,518 units short of 2008's record-setting mark of 697,562 TEUs.
• On a fiscal year level (July-April) this is the second best start to a fiscal year for TEUs in the history of the Port of Virginia. The total amount of TEUs handled in that period was just 7,744 units short of fiscal-year-to-date's 2008's record of 1,805,948 TEUs.

Calendar year TEU totals, 2013 vs. 2012:

• April 2013 = 179,370
• April 2012 = 169,644
• March 2013 = 179,518
• March 2012 = 166,719
• February 2013 = 169,390
• February 2012 = 157,050
• January 2013 = 158,766
• January 2012 = 154,300

Virginia Sails Box Ship Requiring 49 feet of Draft

Norfolk – Fourteen months after The Port of Virginia set a US East Coast record for handling a deep-draft container ship, the port on May 11, broke its own record when an export-laden container ship set sail drafting 49 feet of water.

“Virginia's 50-foot channel was put to the test again this past weekend and again, The Port of Virginia proved it can handle these deep-draft vessels,” said Rodney W. Oliver, interim executive director of the Virginia Port Authority.

For decades, Virginia’s 50-foot-deep shipping channels have accommodated heavily-laden coal colliers, but Saturday’s sailing of the MSC Chicago marked the deepest draft ever needed for a containership.

The MSC Chicago called APM Terminals in Portsmouth Friday, worked through the night and sailed Saturday morning. The Chicago is owned and operated by Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) and deployed in the ocean carrier’s Golden Gate Service, which links the US East Coast to the Far East via the Suez Canal. Virginia is the last North American stop on the Golden Gate Service before it heads back to the Far East.

“With Virginia being the last stop on the service, it allows export cargo to be collected in Virginia, loaded and immediately begin the export leg of the trip,” Oliver said. “This allows exports loaded in Virginia to reach their destination quicker because there are no other East Coast port calls. The ocean carriers are taking advantage of our 50-foot-deep channels. That depth allows them to load heavy and begin to maximize the economics of operating its big ships.”

“As I send this email, I’m watching the MSC Chicago transit the waters of Virginia as the deepest container ship to ever leave The Port of Virginia, fully-loaded with export cargo, with a sailing draft of 49’03” (15 meters)...its deepest draft possible and the deepest a container ship has ever left an East Coast port of the United States in history,” said William Cofer, president of the Virginia Pilot Association in an email to the Virginia Port Authority.

The port previous record was 48.5 feet set by the MSC Roma on March 1, 2012.

• The Chicago, built in 2005, has capacity for 9,178 TEUs.
• She measures approximately 1,102 feet long and 150 feet across the beam (width), or 18 containers across.
• These dimensions earn the Chicago the post-Panamax designation, meaning she is too large to transit the Panama Canal, under the waterway’s current configuration.
• The port rotation of the Golden Gate Service is: Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Singapore, Salalah, Suez Canal transit, New York, Norfolk, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport (Bahamas), Charleston, Norfolk, Suez Canal transit, Jeddah, Colombo, Singapore, Chiwan and back to Hong Kong.

International Paper Named Virginia’s Shipper of the Year

Norfolk – International Paper, a valued customer that returned to using The Port of Virginia last year, is the 2013 recipient of the Port of Virginia's Shipper of the Year award that will be presented May 9 at the Virginia Maritime Symposium.

"This award recognizes a company that has gone above and beyond the course of normal business to help the port grow both commercially and operationally," said Thomas D. Capozzi, vice president of global sales and customer service for Virginia International Terminals Inc. "International Paper has worked well with our operational staff and has been very open to ideas and discussions about how to better process its cargo coming through here."

International Paper reopened its mill in Franklin last June to produce fluff pulp. Several other locations were considered, but the availability of a trained workforce, proximity to raw materials and to the Port of Virginia played a large role in the decision to convert the shuttered mill to produce pulp.

"Container volume since the mill has reopened has grown dramatically and there are exploring opportunities to ship pulp via breakbulk ships as well," Capozzi said. "Breakbulk shipments can be handled by the port's network of on-dock warehousing."

Other factors that were taken into consideration during the selection process of International Paper included:

• The significant impact to the Hampton Roads/Franklin community for job creation. This includes jobs at the plant and for vendors serving the facility and its ancillary needs;
• Overall reinvestment in the community; and
• Multiple spin-off opportunities that include the attraction of new transportation vendors – trucking companies, for example -- to handle export cargo.

The mill is producing about 800 tons of fluff pulp each day, and is pursuing overseas exports where the demand is great. When the mill closed in 2010, it had been operating in the town for more than a century.

"One more ways than one, we're glad to have IP back as a port customer, employer and contributor to our region's economy," Capozzi said.

ZIM Adds Virginia to Port Rotation; 1st Vessel Arrives June 15

Norfolk – ZIM America announced this week that it is revising the port rotations of its ZCP vessel service to include a stop at The Port of Virginia; the first call will be made June 15 by the ZIM Mediterranean.

ZIM officials said last week that it's revising port rotations to better serve customers in the United States. The company said the ZCP (ZIM Container Service Pacific) Shanghai-Norfolk transit time of 30 days is one of the best in the market.

"This latest upgrade of our long-standing ZCP service is aimed at responding to our customers' needs in this trade, while making our network more efficient," Rafi Ben-Ari, vice president of shipping at Zim, said.

The new rotation will be Savannah, Virginia, New York, Halifax, Kingston, Los Angeles, Oakland, Vostochny, Ningbo, Shanghai, Pusan, Balboa, Kingston, and Savannah. ZIM's ZCP service is currently operated by 10 vessels each with capacity ranging from 4,800 TEUs to 5,000 TEUs.

Lea Bogatch-Genossar said Norfolk has been home for the Israeli carrier's U.S. office since 2000. "With Norfolk being home to our area head office for over a decade, adding a Norfolk call to one of our flagship global services, ZCP, is especially significant for us and for our US customers."

"This decision provides us a new service offering to/from China and Korea," said Rodney W. Oliver, the VPA's interim executive director. "ZIM is very strong in furniture commodity segment, which is also our number one import commodity, so we believe there are some excellent synergies there."

Virginia, Ningbo Ports Ink Cooperation Agreement

Norfolk -- The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) and the Ningbo Municipal Port Administration signed a memorandum of understanding this month establishing the groundwork for information sharing aimed at generating new business by promoting the all-water route between the growing Chinese seaport and Virginia.

The agreement will see both organizations cooperate, where possible, on marketing activities, market research, exchange of information, technology, modernization details and training.

"These kinds of agreements signify the beginnings of a working relationship and hopefully a long-term relationship where both parties benefit," said Rodney W. Oliver, the VPA's interim executive director. "China has been Virginia's number one trading partner for many years and having these kinds of agreements in place will help strengthen our relationship with that country."

Ningbo is one of the most important and busiest ports in mainland China. It is located on the coastal province of Zhejiang. The port is at the crossroad of the north-south shipping route and the important waterway of the Yangtze River. The port comprises several ports and recently merged with the neighboring Port of Zhoushan to form a combined cargo-handling center. The combined Ningbo-Zhoushan Port had a combined traffic of 627 million tons of cargo in 2010, making it the second-largest port in the world (after Shanghai) in terms of cargo volume.

The agreement was signed by Russell J. Held, A VPA deputy executive director and Chang Boaping, deputy director general, Ningbo Municipal Port Administration Bureau.

"Today we enjoy six weekly services between Ningbo and the Port of Virginia via both the Panama and Suez Canals," Held said. "One of the weekly services includes the biggest container vessels that come to the East Coast. They can load full with heavy Virginia export agriculture and forest products because of the deep water at both ports.

"Our goal with this MOU is to share operational best practices, jointly market our good service connectivity and drive investment and business growth on both ends of the supply chain."

Above: The VPA's Russell J. Held (left) and Port of Ningbo's Chang Boaping signed the memorandum of understanding on April 18. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (standing row,fourth from left) helped facilitate the agreement.