Port of Virginia Completes First Phase of $375 Million Expansion

Photo: Port of Virginia

The Port of Virginia announced Friday it has completed phase one of the $375 million expansion project at the Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) terminal with the addition of 12 new container stacks.

Construction on the NIT expansion got underway in January 2018, with the project completion scheduled for 2020.

The centerpiece of the project is the construction of 30 semi-automated container stacks at South NIT, served by 60 new rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes. The project will expand NIT’s annual throughput capacity by 400,000 container units, going from 850,000 to 1.25 million container units; a 46 percent increase.

Phase I is composed of 12 new stacks and 24 new RMGs. Work began on phase II (six stacks) in December 2018 and phase III (12 stacks) begins in May.

“A little more than a year ago an area the size of 30 football fields was cleared and today we’re processing thousands of containers through that same space,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “We are forty-percent of the way through construction and are seeing good flow at the gates and are maintaining a strong, customer-focused effort during construction.”

“This milestone comes on the heels of our announcement in February that we have completed the stack-yard work at Virginia International Gateway,” Reinhart said. “That project brought 13 new container stacks into service and gives us the capability to process 1.2 million lifts a year at VIG.

“The $700 million investment being made in The Port of Virginia puts it in the best position to become the US East Coast’s premiere port and a major hub for ultra-large container vessels,” Reinhart added.

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