With the increased volume of imports and exports in 2013, the port eclipsed 2007, the best year on record to date, by 95,166 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The 2013 TEU total was 2,223,532.
“We were incredibly productive in all facets of our operation,” said Rodney W. Oliver, interim executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “The year’s production is a testament to hard work and getting back to focusing upon the core mission of moving cargo. Our growth in 2013 was 5.6 percent and that is in addition to the 9.8 percent growth we achieved in 2012. These totals demonstrate that there is a lot of confidence in The Port of Virginia.”
The port’s rail operation was tested in 2013, having handled 430,894 containers, which was 11.7 percent growth when compared with 2012.
“The port has experienced double-digit rail growth in 11 of the last 14 months,” Oliver said. “We finished 2013 with rail cargo representing 34 percent of the port’s total container traffic, which, on a calendar-year basis, is the highest percentage in the port’s history.”
Truck and barge cargo represent 62 percent and 4 percent, respectively, of total port traffic.