The Port of Virginia continues to take immediate action to help mitigate the congestion that has beset Virginia International Gateway (VIG) during the last week. Today, the port announced today the following four initiatives:
  •  The port is shifting two vessel services to Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT) from VIG. The first shift begins Saturday, March 21, with the call of the ZIM Haifa. The second shift will be Saturday, March 28, with the call of the Varamo, a vessel in Maersk Line’s SAE service. PMT will begin receiving export loads for these services Monday, March 16.
  •  Next week the port will begin taking delivery of 400, 40-foot chassis that will be integrated into HRCPII during the next five weeks. Once here, the units will undergo an inspection and immediately be placed into service. The port will continue to add more assets to its chassis fleet in the coming months.
  •  In order to further increase chassis supply, the port is implementing a program to recover chassis from its terminals. When and where possible, operations team members will be grounding empty containers on wheels to better utilize the chassis. In this port-wide effort, the first area of focus will be those damaged empty containers that are mounted on a chassis, but can be grounded without interruption of service / repairs.
  •  The port began use of its inter-terminal barge service to reduce drayage between the terminals and stack density at VIG and NIT.
On March 12, the port announced these measures:
  •  EffectiveFriday,March13,theportwillimplementapolicytoreducethenumberofdaysan export container can dwell on all terminals to 9 from 10
  •  Yesterday, in an announcement to ocean carriers, the port extended free-time for all containers at VIG by two days
  •  SundaygateshavebeenextendedthroughMarch29:7a.m.to5p.m.
  •  In order to reduce stack density at VIG, we will begin using barge service to move containers to PMT
On March 11, the port announced these measures:
  •  Extendedeveninggatehoursuntil9p.m.,March11-13
  •  Keeping empty container moves out of the gates at both VIG and Norfolk International Terminals (NIT)
  •  AprojecttosegregaterailandtruckcargoatVIG
  •  Requesting that ocean carriers evacuate as much of their cargo from the terminals as possible
  •  Using the 64 Express barge service to move containers between VIG and NIT in order to keep that dray traffic out of the gate