THE Port of Virginia made history in August by smashing its single-month record by handling a total of 235,511 TEU, a seven per cent increase from the same month a year ago.
Virginia's box volume surges 7pc to record 235,511 TEU in August THE Port of Virginia made history in August by smashing its single-month record by handling a total of 235,511 TEU, a seven per cent increase from the same month a year ago. August marked the seventh consecutive month of container volumes of more than 210,000 TEU, according to a statement from the Virginia Port Authority (VPA). The port's previous one-month volume record was set in October, and last month's results improved on that by a little more than 2,000 TEU. Executive director and CEO of the VPA, John Reinhart, said the peak season is under way and that volumes are on track to break last year's calendar-year record of 2.5 million TEU. "Our productivity across the operation continues to trend in positive territory, and for the first time in our history, our monthly rail volume exceeded 50,000 units," Mr Reinhart said. "Further, our import volume in August was up 12 per cent and exports up three per cent." Rail-container volume for the month - at 50,389 - was up 20 per cent year on year, while truck volume was flat, at 0.4 per cent. From January through August, the port's TEU volume is up about two per cent from the same period a year ago; rail-container volume is up 11.3 per cent; and truck container volume is down 3.4 per cent. The port is moving into a period of expansion and construction, Mr Reinhart noted. The North Gate project at Norfolk International Terminals will create 26 new gates for trucks and is expected to be complete by the middle of 2017. Before then, port officials will break ground on a US$350 million expansion project, also at Norfolk International Terminals, that will enable the facility to handle an additional 696,000 TEU. Its current capacity is about 1.4 million TEU.