“That’s eight consecutive months of growth for the port. In addition, we have had the best month in our history in four of the last five months,” said Rodney W. Oliver, the Virginia Port Authority’s interim executive director. “The first-in and last-out vessel calls, expanding rail services and our effort to grow market share is really paying dividends.”
Total rail containers handled in September were 33,802, which is a 15.6 percent increase when compared with last September. The year-to-date rail containers total is 281,019 vs. 244,254 for the same period last year; an increase of 15 percent.
The number of containers moved between the Port of Richmond and the Hampton Roads Harbor on the 64 Express barge service in September was 490, which is an increase of 333 percent when compared with last September. The year-to-date total for the barge is up 113 percent: 6,468 containers vs. 3,028 containers handled during the same period in 2011.
Virginia Inland Port (VIP) in September experienced a slight decrease in the number of containers it handled when compared with the same month last year: 3,052 vs. 3,158 or a 3.4 percent decrease. Year-to-date, VIP is running 3.7 percent ahead of last year.
Additional September highlights:
• The port is also seeing the best fiscal-year start in its history. Fiscal year-to-date volumes through September are the best FYTD volumes in the history of the port for containers, TEUs, and container tonnage.
• July-September 2012 was the second best quarter overall in the history of the port for TEU and container volumes. Only the fourth quarter of 2007 was better.
• Total rail containers continued to climb with double-digit increases in seven of the nine months so far in 2012 (calendar) when compared with 2011. On a fiscal year-to-date-basis, rail growth increased by 20 percent when compared with the same period of the last fiscal year.
• Vehicle units increased in September more than 75 percent when compared with the same month last year and are up nearly 25 percent for the calendar year. At 2,936 vehicle units, this was the second best September for vehicles handled in 20 years.
