Virginia port breaks monthly cargo record; Florida port installs first female director

The Port of Virginia in October handled 206,597 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), breaking its single-month volume record of 205,137 TEUs set in July.

The Norfolk port's total cargo jumped 17.8 percent compared with October 2012 volume. Imports soared 24.9 percent to 98,968 TEUs and exports climbed 12 percent to 107,630 TEUs.

"The driver behind [these] numbers is a lot of discretionary, peak-season cargo coming in and being positioned for the coming retail season," said Rodney Oliver, interim executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, in a press release.

The port also posted its second-best month on record for rail volume, which rose 14.7 percent in October. Rail volume has registered double-digit growth in 11 of the past 12 months.

In addition, the percentage of cargo moved by rail reached an all-time high 35.8 percent, marking the fifth month in 2013 in which rail cargo's share of total volume exceeded 35 percent.

The port is served by CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, Bay Coast Railroad Inc. and Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Co.

Meanwhile, Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward has appointed Amy Miller director of the Port of Pensacola — the northern Florida city's first female director since its inception in the mid-1700s.

She becomes the only female port director in the state and in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, Hayward said in a press release.

In 2002, Miller joined the port — which is is served by CSX — as manager of business and trade development. Her duties were expanded in 2006 to include oversight of the port's budgeting, finance and human resources activities.

Miller entered the seaport industry in 1993 as communications director for the Port of South Louisiana, and became trade development manager for the Port of Gulfport, Miss., in 1997.