These companies have spent more than a combined one billion dollars on improvements to track, bridges and terminals throughout their network to make the Port an attractive, competitive alternative to the West Coast. “While other ports to the south of us are mired in difficult negotiations for projects, plans and investments, the Commonwealth of Virginia continues to forge ahead with a plan for success and will be ready to accommodate the new world of post-Panamax vessels and opportunities.”Ĭurrently sixth in the nation in annual tonnage, the Port of Virginia is serviced by two Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX. “Having lived and worked here all my life, I am astounded at the continued trajectory of growth,” says Ben Nelson, III. These dredging programs by competing ports are not anticipated to be finished until years after the new locks are opened. Where Hampton Roads’ competitors are having to dredge to depths between forty and fifty feet to meet the needs and drafts of these large vessels, Hampton Roads already boasts drafts to fifty feet, and the APM terminals are dredged to fifty-five feet. The Port of Virginia, recognizing the opportunity that this will afford the Commonwealth, has invested heavily in Hampton Roads infrastructure both shipside and shoreside. By leaving cargo on the vessel, the costs associated with rail or road transit and fuel are reduced by virtue of lower shipboard operating costs and shorter rail transits to inland or coastwise destinations. The intermodal costs to move this cargo from the West to East coasts add significant landed costs.
Global ocean carriers are moving to larger and larger vessels because of the economies of scale that reduce per container costs through savings on fuel, port handling fees and other operating costs.Ī report prepared by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service in January, 2013, highlights the fact that at present, seventy percent of cargo from Asia discharges on the West Coast and half of that moves to the Midwest and East Coast.