By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOT Despite the negative impact the down economy has had on U.S. seaports, the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) appears to be entering a new era. The most significant development ongoing at VPA is the 20-year lease the Authority recently signed with APM Terminals Americas. Under the $40-million a year lease agreement, APM will retain ownership of the APM Terminal in Portsmouth and its assets, but all of its operations were turned over to Virginia International Terminals (VIT), the VPA’s operating company. APM Terminals will receive a bonus payment for container volumes of more than 500,000 a year. APM Terminals Americas opened the state-of-the-art facility in Portsmouth in 2007. APM Offers Efficiencies “It’s hard to say what VPA will make in terms of money on the APM Terminal,” says Joe Harris, VPA spokesman. “But we did not enter into this lease agreement for a breakeven deal.” Instead, VPA is concentrating on the efficiencies APMT will create because of its high level of automation, particularly when vessel calls are dovetailed with operations at VPA’s other terminals and the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT) is closed. “We think there is going to be significant savings and profit out of that,” he says. During one week in early September, VPA experienced 47 moves per hour at APMT. APMT is regarded the most technologically advanced container terminal in the United States. “Having operation control at that facility dramatically increases the efficiency and cargo handling capabilities of the port on multiple levels and, therefore, increases the collective value of the VPA’s terminals,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton, at a meeting regarding the port. “Leasing APM Terminals will make the VPA overall operations more efficient, allow for the Portsmouth Marine Terminal to be put to other uses and alter the development schedule for Craney Island.” As a result, VIT will begin consolidating all container handling operations in the port at the APM Terminal and Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) to take advantage of the container handling efficiencies and capacity offered at these two terminals. The VPA and VIT will also have the opportunity to diversify and grow their marketing capabilities at both PMT and the Newport News Marine Terminal (NNMT) to bring new cargoes to the port. “Hopefully, we will have a tenant for PMT in the next four to six months,” Harris says. “We are very bullish.” PMT and NNMT are attractive facilities for brake bulk cargo, bulk commodities, rolling stock, or to support offshore energy projects. By having control of all the terminals and assets in this huge bay area gives VPA extreme advantages in placing ship lines where the Authority thinks they fit best. For example, NNMT, a dedicated project/break bulk terminal, is now seeing lines call there after a couple of tough years – the result of the economy. “One of the things that we are bullish on is we have on dock rail at APM with two of the East Coast’s Class I railroads —Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX,” Harris says. “That is a huge selling point, particularly with the opening of the Heartland Corridor on September 9.” The Heartland Corridor, a private-public partnership between NS, three states, and the Federal Highway Administration, is regarded one of the largest railroad engineering projects in the past century. In that project, Southern raised the height of 28 tunnels in the Appalachian Mountains over a rail line that covers nearly 250 miles and now saves up to two days in transit time for shippers, thereby providing support with competitive advantage. Harris contends that the Heartland Corridor will not create an overnight increase in cargo volumes. “But the Heartland Corridor has generated a lot of interest among our existing and potential customer base,” he says.” We think that the Heartland Corridor will grab the attention of those shipping cargo that transits the Atlantic through t