Virginia port wraps up container stack-yard work

A container stack is now operating at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG), marking the end of a key construction phase at the Norfolk terminal, the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) announced late last week.

The end of the stack-yard work is part of a $320 million effort to expand VIG's capacity. With the completion of stack No. 1, the terminal now has 13 additional container stacks, each served by two new rail-mounted gantry cranes.

The new stacks complement 15 existing stacks, also served by rail-mounted gantry cranes. Those stacks are on schedule to be refurbished throughout the year, with two stacks completed and three underway, authority officials said in a press release.

The expansion has doubled the terminal's annual container throughput capacity to 1.2 million container lifts per year.

"Our turn-times for motor carriers are improving, there is better flow at our gates and our service levels are trending in the right direction," said John Reinhart, VPA's chief executive officer and executive director, in a press release. "We are on-budget, on-time and with the end clearly in sight, we are already seeing the benefits."

The VIG expansion is one of two large-scale capacity expansion projects that, when complete, will increase the port’s overall annual container capacity by 40 percent, or 1 million container units, by 2020.