Norfolk - At The Port of Virginia, the future is arriving quicker than what was forecast. Nearly a decade ago, leaders from the US Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District and The Port of Virginia heralded the completion of the 50-foot channel project. At the time, Virginia had the only US East Coast port with that depth and many in the industry thought the port was set for the future. Today, the Corps and port leaders came together again to sign a Feasibility Cost Share Agreement (FCSA) that commits each side to sharing the cost of evaluating the benefits of two dredging projects critical to the future of all the stakeholders and terminals along the Elizabeth River: the deepening of the Norfolk Harbor to a depth beyond 50 feet and the river’s Southern Branch to 45 feet. The Corps was represented by Col. Paul B. Olsen, Norfolk District Engineer, and the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) by John Reinhart, its CEO and executive director. The FCSA describes the project and the responsibilities of the federal government and the VPA in the cost-sharing and execution of work. “The shipping industry is rapidly changing and a significant area of change is vessel size: the ships keep getting larger and ports need land-side infrastructure and deep water to accommodate them,” Reinhart said. “Presently, the largest vessels in the Atlantic trade call The Port of Virginia and fully-laden with cargo, they require every inch of our present channel- depth to safely operate. As the ships get bigger, they will be limited to where they can call on the East Coast; our goal is to provide deep, wide channels and safe passage to the vessels calling Virginia. This is part of the port’s larger plan to ensure a sustainable business model.”