Port of Virginia completes first phase of NIT capacity expansion project

The Port of Virginia continues to expand capacity, completing the first phase of a key project at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) this month, port officials said today.

Phase I of the $375 million NIT expansion project includes 12 new container stacks and 24 new rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes. Work began on phase II, which will add six stacks, in December; phase III, which will add 12 stacks, begins in May, port officials said. The project is scheduled to be complete in 2020 and will expand NIT's annual throughput capacity by 400,000 container units, going from 850,000 to 1.25 million—a 46 percent increase, port officials said.

"This milestone comes on the heels of our announcement in February that we have completed the stack-yard work at Virginia International Gateway," Virginia Port Authority CEO and Executive Director John F. Reinhart said in a prepared statement. "That project brought 13 new container stacks into service and gives us the capability to process 1.2 million lifts a year at VIG."