THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200503
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Coal shipments through port continue to grow
Coal shipments through the port of Hampton Roads continued to grow in February. February coal loadings at the port's three terminals rose 7.1 percent to 4.7 million tons compared to 4.4 million in February 1995, according to the Hampton Roads Maritime Association. So far in 1996, the terminals have loaded 9.1 million tons, 1 million more tons than in January and February last year. Pier IX Terminal Co. in Newport News posted the biggest February gain jumping to 739,701 tons from 281,680 tons. The region's largest terminal, Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Pier 6 at Lamberts Point in Norfolk slipped 3.7 percent. (Staff)
Norfolk airport breaks slide in passenger traffic
For the first time in over a year, the Norfolk Airport Authority reported a gain in passengers flying through its airport. The authority announced that 180,125 passengers flew through Norfolk International Airport in February, up 1.7 percent from 177,101 passengers in February 1995. In every month since December 1994, the authority has reported a decline in passenger volume compared to the same month a year earlier. The airport's 1995 passenger volume collapsed 21.4 percent to 2.7 million compared to 1994 due to the absence of air-fare wars and the withdrawal early last year of Continental Airlines fizzling low-fare service. (Staff)
WLR Foods squeezed by grain, poultry prices
WLR Foods is cutting poultry production and delaying plans to expand its work force because of rising grain prices and falling poultry prices, Chairman James Keeler said. The nation's second-largest turkey producer and the sixteenth-largest chicken producer, based in Broadway, Va., will report a 35 to 45 cent per share loss in the third quarter partly because grain will cost $20 million in the quarter than in the same quarter last year. As a result, the company won't expand a processing plant it bought last December near Greensboro, N.C., . (Bloomberg Business News)
Best Products CEO sold holdings prior to leaving
Stewart M. Kasen, the top executive at Best Products Co. Inc., sold his entire holdings of company stock to the Richmond-based retailer for nearly $1 million just days before Best announced his departure. It was part of a severance agreement Best reached with Kasen, its chairman, president and chief executive officer. (Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)
Bank held liable for forged checks
First Union National Bank of Virginia is responsible for money that a check-forging bookkeeper embezzled from a museum that had an account with the bank, a judge has ruled. The decision by Circuit Judge Robert P. Doherty could force First Union and other banks to change the way they review checks before cashing them, attorneys said. ``The court said, in effect, that the bank cannot shirk its own responsibility to have a plan in place to thwart forgeries,'' said Bradley McGraw, a lawyer who represented the museum's bonding company. Doherty ordered First Union to pay about $32,000. (Associated Press)
Yarn firm tolay off 230 workers in plant move
A yarn company will lay off 230 Virginia workers in April because it is moving some of its operation to North Carolina. Unifi Inc. will keep 130 employees at its Staunton plant, but the work of the 230 workers will be moved to a plant in Yadkinville, N.C. (AP) by CNB