Port of Virginia completes container stack-yard work

Expanded stack work is finished and the overall expansion of the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) at the Port of Virginia is on track for June completion, port officials said this week.

Stack No. 1 at VIG is up and running, officials said, leaving just two remaining projects of the $320 million expansion effort. The terminal now has 13 additional container stacks, each served by two new rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs), which complement 15 existing stacks, also served by RMGs. Officials say the expansion has doubled the terminal's annual container throughput capacity: VIG can now process 1.2 million container lifts a year.

The expanded stack-yard is being combined with four new ship-to-shore cranes, 800 additional feet of berth space, four new lanes at the truck gate, a new terminal operating system and a new, a completely reconfigured on-dock rail yard with nearly 20,000 feet of track served by four new cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes.

The ship-to-shore cranes—the largest in the Western Hemiäphere, port officials said—will be ready for service in March and the rail yard is scheduled for completion in late May.

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, officials said.

"This new capacity is quickly being integrated into the operation and The Port of Virginia is beginning to see positive results," John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, said this week. "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. We are on-budget, on-time and with the end clearly in sight, we are already seeing the benefits. "