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Virginia Port offers ex-im trade an effective & efficient gateway to sprawling US market |
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27/08/2008 |
| The Port of Virginia, on the East Coast of the US, is in a position to cater to the entire needs and more of the Indian ex-im trade.
This was emphasised by Mr Jerry A. Bridges, Executive Director, Mr Thomas D. Capozzi, Senior Managing Director of Marketing and Mr Russell J. Held, Managing Director of Marketing, Virginia Port Authority (VPA), during interactions with the trade organised in Delhi and Mumbai last week by PL Shipping & Logistics Ltd, its agent in India.
The events saw keen participation from a cross-section of the cargo and logistics fraternity.
The US East Coast Port of Virginia is in a position to cater to all of the needs and more of the India’s ex-im trade, emphasised a delegation from the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) which concluded a visit to New Delhi and Mumbai last week.
The three-member group, comprising Mr Jerry A. Bridges, Executive Director, Mr Thomas D. Capozzi, Senior Managing Director, Marketing, and Mr Russell J. Held, Managing Director, Marketing, interacted with the trade in both cities and threw light on the salient features of the port through presentations and meetings.
The events and meetings were organised and set up by PL Shipping & Logistics Ltd, Port of Virginia’s agent in India.
At a trade get-together held in Mumbai, which saw participation from a cross-section of the cargo and logistics fraternity, in addition to the PL Shipping team led by Mr R. Ramkumar, Managing Director, Mr Capozzi emphasised that increasing business with the fast-growing Indian market (currently at about 7 per cent of the port’s total) was a key strategic initiative of VPA.
He told Exim India that the delegation had fruitful meetings during their visit, not just with shipping lines but also with companies setting up or proposing to set up distribution facilities within the US. VPA could partner them with warehousing companies, trucking firms, etc., for the purpose of establishing facilities near the port or locations accessible by road and rail.
The port had lots of areas for setting up distribution, vehicle handling, machinery handling facilities etc., it was stressed.
Making a presentation, Mr Held highlighted that Virginia port was one of the most successful cargo handling networks on the eastern seaboard. VPA, along with its operating affiliate, Virginia International Terminals (VIT), operated and maintained world-class facilities such as the Norfolk International Terminals (NIT), Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT), Newport News Marine Terminal (NNMT) and the intermodal Virginia Inland Port (VIP).
Also: Virginia port is today linked with more than 250 ports in more than 100 overseas locations through the services of over 40 lines (almost all of the US East Coast services from India call at Norfolk)
It ranks amongst the largest volume ports on the USEC in terms of general cargo (break-bulk and container).
Unlike some of the other major ports in the US, VPA facilities don’t have the problem of congestion, thanks to some proactive measures taken by the authority.
It has lined up massive plans to augment infrastructure at all of its existing facilities, especially at its flagship NIT that envisages reconstructing the container wharves to accommodate larger vessels and more berths, acquiring new equipment, including some of the biggest cranes in the world, demolishing aged and obsolete warehouses to make way for container storage yards, etc., and renovating and expanding rail operations.
Maersk Line has invested $ 450 million in a 285-acre marine terminal in Portsmouth, the first stage of which opened in 2007 and which will be completed in 2009 with an annual capacity of 2.1 million TEUs.
Planning for the long-term, VPA intends developing Craney Island into the fourth, state-owned deepwater marine terminal, which will be built in three phases starting in 2017. Once completed, by 2030, it will have an annual throughput of 2.5 million TEUs.
Given these projects, it is estimated that the port will have a total capacity of 7.5 million TEUs by 2017 and 10 million TEUs by 2030.
Among the railroad transportation initiatives, the Heartland Corridor will allow the running of double-stack trains on a more direct route to Columbus, Ohio, a large transit point for cargo going into the nation’s heartland. When complete (scheduled for 2010), the Corridor will save rail users one-and-a-half days of travel time between the port and Columbus.
VPA expects the growth trend to continue on the Asia-US East Coast sector, including from the Indian Subcontinent, especially through the Suez.
Primarily a container port, though it was also capable of handling large volumes of nearly every type of cargo, VPA today handled about 2.2 million TEUs on a capacity of 5 million TEUs.
With connectivity to 2/3rd of the US population within a day, the port also had the deepest shipping channels on the East Coast, at 16 metres, and had federal authorisation to go even deeper.
The delegation expressed satisfaction at the "enthusiastic" response generated by the trade meets in the two cities as well as its many meetings.
Among the PL Shipping officials present on the occasion were Mr R. Jayaram (COO), Mr Suresh Vipin Chandran (Regional Manager, Sales), Mr Sunder Shenoy P. (General Manager), Mr Remmy Sutari (Deputy Manager, Projects), Mr R. Harishankar Varma (Deputy Manager, Sales), Mr Santosh Puranik |
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