The Port of Virginia® continues to expand its capacity and this month 12 new container stacks at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) began operating as the project to reconfigure the terminal’s south container stack-yard moves forward according to schedule.
“A little more than a year ago an area the size of 30 football fields was cleared and today we’re processing thousands of containers through that same space,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “We are forty-percent of the way through construction and are seeing good flow at the gates and are maintaining a strong, customer-focused effort during construction.”
In January 2018, construction on the $375 million NIT expansion got underway, with the project completion scheduled for 2020. The centerpiece of the expansion is the construction of 30 semi-automated container stacks at South NIT, served by 60 new rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes. This project will expand NIT’s annual throughput capacity by 400,000 container units, going from 850,000 to 1.25 million container units; a 46 percent increase.
Phase I is composed of 12 new stacks and 24 new RMGs. Work began on phase II (six stacks) in December 2018 and phase III (12 stacks) begins in May.
“This milestone comes on the heels of our announcement in February that we have completed the stack-yard work at Virginia International Gateway,” Reinhart said. “That project brought 13 new container stacks into service and gives us the capability to process 1.2 million lifts a year at VIG.
“The $700 million investment being made in The Port of Virginia puts it in the best position to become the US East Coast’s premiere port and a major hub for ultra-large container vessels,” Reinhart said.
NIT PROJECT TIMELINE
- January 2018 – Container stack construction begun
- March 2018 – Upgraded PRO-PASS truck reservation system live at NIT
- October 2018 – First three container stacks with new RMG cranes placed in service (beginning of Phase I)
- February 2019 – 12 new RMG container stacks in service (12 of 30 stacks complete). PHASE I complete
- March 2019 – 10 new shuttle trucks in service
- May 2019 – Phase III construction begins
- July 2019-October 2019 – Six new container stacks placed in service (18 of 30 stacks complete)
- February 2020-June 2020 – 12 new container stacks placed in service (all 30 stacks online)
Source: Port of Virginia (Additional information about Norfolk, Virginia at CruiseMapper)