Virginia capitalises on its deep water channels

“What should be taken into account is that we grew in spite of a weak economy and some larger trade issues that we had absolutely no control over that had an adverse impact on our volumes,” said Virginia Port Authority (VPA) executive director Jerry Bridges.

Furthermore, he said: “Posting positive numbers under those conditions tells me that 2012 is going to be different: The economy continues to inch forward, there is considerable interest in the Richmond barge service, CSX has started its on-dock rail operation, both NS and CSX have expanded their rail reach from our port and we have multiple port users that are coming on-line in the later part of this year.

An important development is the fact that we have had very productive discussions with some ocean carriers that are considering a change in their East Coast port rotations in order to take advantage of our deep water.”