Port of the Week! - Norfolk, VA (Port of Virginia)

The East Coast port resides in a special club where it’s named, not after a city or a bay, but a whole state.

The Port of Virginia’s title is surely an ode to an expansive series of terminals and inland hubs existing within the port’s network across the Old Dominion State. Major working zones are the Virginia Inland Port and several marine terminals, highlighted by Virginia’s largest one Norfolk International Terminals (NIT).

Altogether, nearly 30 ocean carriers offer direct services to and from the Port of Virginia with connections to more than 200 countries in the world. Up until December 2022, the port’s deepwater harbor was the deepest on the entire East Coast.

With Norfolk as its pacesetter, Virginia receives a lucrative share of inbound cargo routed to the East Coast. Norfolk is often included as a stop along with other large USEC ports, like New York, Savannah, and Philadelphia, on high-capacity carrier services from Asia and Europe.

While it holds its own in a competitive import market, Virginia’s export trade has actually been a source of tremendous growth in recent years. The main commodity propelling this movement has been U.S.-produced plastic resins.

The port’s proximity to a colossal petrochemicals plant in nearby Pennsylvania has knighted Virginia with outbound opportunity. The facility alone can produce up to 1.6 million metric tons of resin a year. Stakeholders within the plastic resin business have lauded Virginia’s central location on the East Coast, the port’s speedy service, and connections to railways Norfolk Southern and CSX networks.

Perhaps this industry has found true logistics love with the Port of Virginia?

?A recent $59.9 million investment from a large plastic resins warehouser and distributor to set up shop in Norfolk seems to answer this with great affection.

The company is plotting to add a 450,000-square-foot warehouse and a rail yard, while expanding track access to its commercial areas from main lines. The huge investment is a nod to boosting capacity amid increasing demand abroad for plastic resins.

Both Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Port Authority Executive Director Stephen A. Edwards assure the port will continue to invest, parallel to the plastic resins industry, in order to remain the true significant other regarding export shipping needs.