THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250422
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 45 lines
Pushing the port to a record-breaking pace, container tonnage shipped through the Hampton Roads harbor surged in August, the Virginia Port Authority reported Tuesday.
As a result, the port's general cargo tonnage for 1996 may surpass last year's record of more than 9 million tons.
At its meeting Tuesday, the port authority board authorized the planned issuance of $38.3 million of bonds that will largely pay for the second phase of an expansion at Norfolk International Terminals.
The project involves extending the container terminal at the foot of Terminal Boulevard to the north, adding 3,000 feet of additional wharf and at least 56 acres of additional container storage and handling space. Tidewater Construction Corp., which in July won a contract worth almost $18 million, has begun work on the wharf.
The port authority has begun soliciting bids for the rest of the work, and a major contract estimated to be worth about $26 million should be awarded in October. The expansion is designed to meet the port's additional space needs as cargo volumes increase at least a projected 200 percent by 2010.
Through July, general cargo shipped via port terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News was just 0.2 percent ahead of the same period last year.
A booming August changed that. The terminals handled 838,816 tons of cargo last month, 16.7 percent more than last August, according to figures released at the meeting.
That pushed the tonnage handled through the end of August to 6.32 million tons, up 3.2 percent from 1995's first eight months. The increase is due to increased container trade, said Lea Glembot, the port authority's national sales manager.
``We are benefiting from some steamship line consolidations,'' Glembot said.
The port also is seeing some gains as businesses prepare for Christmas and adjust inventories for the end of the year. she said.
Break-bulk tonnage, or noncontainerized cargos such as rubber and cocoa beans, is still suffering from last year's defection of Waterman Steamship Lines to Wilmington, N.C. Break-bulk is down 18.8 percent for the year.
The port has attracted three new machinery shippers that should start to add to Hampton Roads' break-bulk performance, Glembot said. by CNB