THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230561
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
The wintry weather that blanketed the nation in January slowed the flow of goods through the port of Hampton Roads.
``The weather conditions that we've had in the past month or so have really hurt us,'' said Joseph A. Dorto, general manager and chief executive of Virginia International Terminals Inc.
VIT operates the state-owned port terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News. It also operates an inland port in Front Royal, where shippers truck goods to be sent to the port by rail.
VIT reported Thursday that cargo tonnage shipped across its docks in January slipped 7.2 percent to 571,000 tons, down from 615,000 tons in January 1995.
While shipments have bounced back in the past week, the slippage marked the first time in several years that the port handled less cargo than it did in the same month the year before.
Thousands of people work in the port of Hampton Roads, unloading ships, driving trucks and doing hundreds of other jobs affiliated with the port.
The port has strung together several years of strong growth because of the robust U.S. economy and the consolidation of shipping lines to Hampton Roads from other East Coast ports.
The problem last month was exports stuck in transit or at plants and warehouses because of the snow, ice and cold, Dorto said.
``The rails had problems; we had problems in Front Royal; there were problems all over the Midwest,'' he said.
On the bright side, the decline can't be traced to fewer vessels calling in Hampton Roads. About 211 ships called at VIT terminals last month, up from 206 the previous January.
``We'll start to worry when ship lines start to leave,'' Dorto said. by CNB