zoomImage Courtesy: Port of Virginia

With peak season nearing its close, the US Port of Virginia in November handled 236,155 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), making it the second-busiest month in the port’s history after the record-breaking October 2016.

In comparison with last November, TEU volumes are up 16 percent; rail units up 35 percent; truck volume up 8 percent; Virginia Inland Port volume up 3 percent; and Richmond Marine Terminal (RMT) volume up 20 percent, the port authority said.

“November was a strong month and we experienced solid growth in import and export volumes, which were up 17 percent and 15 percent (respectively); our peak-season volumes will begin tapering off in December, which is normal,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority.

“Combine our performance in November and the volume we handled in October – our single-best effort on record – and we moved 475,000 TEUs.”

November marks the tenth consecutive month in 2016 of TEU volumes exceeding 210,000 units.

Year-to-date, the port’s TEU volume is up 3 percent; rail units up 14 percent; VIP volume up 3 percent; and RMT volume up 30 percent. The import volume has grown by 5 percent and exports are up 2 percent.

Reinhart said the focus “will be maintaining momentum” as the port gets underway with the expansion of Virginia International Gateway later this month and late next spring at Norfolk International Terminals. Combined, these expansion projects will boost annual throughput capacity by 40 percent when complete, the port authority said.