Containerized cargo volumes at the Port of Virginia climbed 8.7 percent year-over-year to 252,230 TEUs in March 2018.
Loaded imports at the mid-Atlantic port grew 13.1 percent year-over-year to 113,123 TEUs, while loaded exports ticked up 6.8 percent to 98,648 TEUs. Exports of empty containers climbed 17.4 percent to 38,152 TEUs, but empty imports dropped 69.7 percent to 2,308 TEUs compared with the previous March.
Volumes at Port of Virginia’s Richmond Marine Terminal surged 25.9 percent to 2,553 containers for the month, but the growth was not enough to keep total barge containers from slipping 9.3 percent year-over-year to 3,852 units.
Total rail shipments, on the other hand, grew 2.1 percent to 49,235 containers despite a 4.1 percent decline in volumes at the Virginia Inland Port.
In non-containerized cargoes, breakbulk volumes jumped 23.7 percent to 19,355 tons, while auto shipments plummeted 52.2 percent to 1,757 vehicles.
Port of Virginia terminals have now handled 2.15 million TEUs since the start of the port’s fiscal 2018 year in July 2017, an increase of 4.3 percent from the same FY2017 period.
“March’s volumes were a nice rebound from largely static volumes in January and February,” VPA CEO John F. Reinhart said in a statement. “We expect volumes to continue to climb and as a result we are focusing on ways to improve the delivery of service to the motor carriers and our ocean carriers, specifically at VIG (Virginia International Gateway), where transactions have been slowed as the result of our capacity expansion project there.
The port in March officially launched the first phase of implementation for its new motor carrier appointment system, dubbed the “PRO-PASS Trucker Reservation System,” in an effort to improve overall cargo efficiency and help the port handle increased volumes.
The first phase of the PRO-PASS TRS rollout is taking place at Norfolk International Terminals, which will be followed by Virginia International Gateway sometime this summer.
In this initial phase, motor carriers calling NIT between 5 and 7 a.m. Monday through Friday must have a reservation, and VPA said it will add a third mandatory hour to the NIT TRS on April 19.
In addition to the new truck reservation system, VPA is also in the midst of a $375 million expansion of the NIT’s south berth that will increase annual container-handling capacity 46 percent by 2020.
The port has taken delivery of the first eight of 16 new diesel-electric shuttle trucks that will help support expanded cargo operations at VIG, and later this month will put the first of 13 new container stacks into service at VIG. The second new container stack is scheduled to go into service in mid-May, VPA said.
“We will continue to make short- and long-term investments in those things – manpower, expanded operating hours and conveyance equipment – to improve flow at the gate and on the berth during construction,” said Reinhart. “Though the problems we are facing at VIG are temporary, the motor carriers are being hit hardest. We will continue to listen to their concerns and those of the ocean carriers and commit to improving our delivery of service as we go forward.
“Bringing the new capacity on line as safely and as quickly as we can is important to restoring service and flow at VIG,” he added. “This is an important first step.”