The Port of Virginia moved 234,230 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in July, which is growth of 7.5 percent when compared with the same month last year and a record as the best July cargo performance.

On a calendar-year basis, total TEU volumes are up 8.1 percent; containers are up 8.5 percent; rail is up 5.6 percent; trucks are up 9 percent; and barge cargo is up 30 percent.

“The peak season is underway, we are seeing the large vessels with regularity and handling their corresponding cargo volumes safely and efficiently,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA). “The North Gate at NIT (Norfolk International Terminals) is fully-functional and motor carriers are utilizing that asset more and more, which will be important as we near the start of work this fall on renovating the south-side stack yard at NIT.

“While our volumes are growing, there is sustained momentum at The Port of Virginia that is driving us forward,” Reinhart added “We have approval from the VPA Board of Commissioners to sign the purchase contract for four new ship-to-shore cranes—the largest on the US East Coast—for Virginia International Gateway. We are beginning to see development of warehouse and distribution space, as evidenced by Panattoni’s recent announcement of a 500,000-square-foot speculative building near Richmond Marine Terminal and we are continuing to identify new double-stack rail opportunities into the Lehigh Valley and western Pennsylvania.”