Port of Virginia receives final delivery from crane order

The final group of automated stacking cranes that are at the center of the Port of Virginia's capacity expansion project arrived last week at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT), port officials announced yesterday.

Over the past two years, 86 of the cranes have been delivered to the port. Twenty-six new cranes are in place at Virginia International Gateway and 60 at NIT. The $217 million contract with Finland-based Konecranes is the largest one-time order for automated stacking cranes in industry history, port officials said in a press release.

"We continue to mark milestones in the expansion of the Port of Virginia and this one signals that we are very close to completion of the work we started three years ago," said John Reinhart, chief executive officer and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. "We have modernized our cargo handling capabilities at NIT and Virginia International Gateway, and significantly increased our operational efficiency and these cranes are a big part of the reason."

The port's terminal capacity expansion project is slated to be completed this fall, following the final phase of construction at NIT South and the arrival at NIT of two new ship-to-shore cranes. With all of the cranes in place and operational, the port will have the capacity to process an additional 1 million containers annually.

The Port of Virginia's railroad links are with CSX, Norfolk Southern Railway, Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co. and Commonwealth Railway.