The Port of Virginia moved 225,196 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in April, which

is growth of 4.6 percent when compared with the same month last year. The port has handled at least 220,000 TEUs every month since October 2016.

The continued growth came as Virginia’s governor, transportation secretary, commerce and trade secretary and representatives of the OCEAN Alliance’s members welcomed the COSCO Development, which at 13,092 TEUs, is the biggest containership to ever call Virginia and the US East Coast. After transiting the Panama Canal, the ship made its first East Coast port stop on May 8 at Virginia International Gateway.

“Our volumes remain steady and we are on track to surpass the number of TEUs we handled in fiscal year 2016,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “Through April we are up nearly seven percent. The new alliance networks went live April 1, and Virginia is the top East Coast port for deployed capacity for Asia-US East Coast alliance services. The big ships are coming to Virginia and bringing corresponding amounts of cargo. Those realities coupled with our expansion projects, are resulting in a very active spring at The Port of Virginia. Our focus during this period of growth and transition is to maintain our efficiency, safety and levels of service.”

Loaded Export TEUs in April totaled 85,623 at the Port of Virginia, up four percent. Loaded import TEUs came in at 101,114, up 9.4 percent. Containers reached 128,321, up 5.4 percent while rail containers equaled 46,367, up 4.3 percent. Barge containers were at 3,749, up 41 percent; truck containers numbered 78,205, up five percent, and the Richmond Marine Terminal handled 1,967 containers, up 39 percent.