Portsmouth Marine Terminal reopens
The Port of Virginia marks an important milestone Monday as Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT), closed for nearly three years, reopens to cargo operations, the company said in its press release.
At 8 a.m. on Monday, the terminal will begin receiving trucks carrying containers for export.
“Sustained growth in our container business necessitates PMT’s return to service and is a sign of health for The Port of Virginia,” said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA). “Reopening the berth at PMT to container operations is the first phase of a larger plan to establish the terminal as a multi-use facility and improve service to our customers.”
The first vessel call is scheduled for early October and from that point forward the 30-acre operation will process between 75,000 and 100,000 containers annually. The operation will be “wheeled,” or containers-onchassis; there will be no stacked containers except for those units in the empty yard. Navis N4 is the terminal operating system.
The terminal is owned by the VPA, will be operated by Virginia International Terminals, LLC, and members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will handle the vessel, gate and terminal services there. Sworn VPA port police officers, teaming with professional contractors, will secure the terminal.
“Reconstituting a portion of PMT will provide some relief at Virginia International Gateway (VIG) and NIT, as both of those terminals are busy and pushing their capacity limits,” Reinhart said. “PMT is a deep-water facility that will serve an important role for our purposes, but over the long-term as a facility that handles many different types of cargo: bulk, breakbulk and ro-ro.”
In 1967 PMT opened for business and on Sept. 20, of that year, Atlantic Container Line’s M/V Atlantic Span was the first commercial ship to call the terminal. For 43 years, the 287-acre facility played a vital role in the success of The Port of Virginia, servicing thousands of ships and processing millions of containers and significant general cargo volumes.
In late 2010, following the successful negotiation of a 20-year operating lease for VIG, the VPA made a strategic decision to shutter PMT. By January 2011, all former PMT customers and cargo had been consolidated at VIG, allowing the port to achieve the full benefit of that facility’s automation and efficiency. For more than three years, PMT was largely dormant.
In spring 2014, a short-term cooperative agreement between the port and Pasha Automotive Services brought business back to PMT. Pasha provides automotive transportation solutions throughout North America with port, distribution and service facilities. During a two month period, Pasha staged and processed more than 6,000 Chrysler-Jeep vehicles at PMT for export to the Asia-Pacific market.
Similar operations hold promise for PMT’s future, Reinhart said: “We’re always open to evaluating options for maximizing the facility to generate economic benefits for the Commonwealth and jobs for our region.”
