THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702070022
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 51 lines
Virginia is on a course that could lead within several years to more container cargo moving through its Hampton Roads terminals - in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News - than through the port of New York/New Jersey.
But Virginia Port Authority must be as flexible as private enterprise to respond quickly to changes in the expanding global-trade market. State-government constraints on procurement and compensation of employees would hamper VPA's ability to acquire cargo-handling cranes and construct storage areas quickly to accommodate new cargo business.
Gov. George F. Allen and the General Assembly ended state general-fund appropriations to the port agency's operating budget. VPA's board of commissioners, the governor and state lawmakers agree that VPA's revenue stream is now or soon will be enough to support VPA's operations. So the funding link was broken on New Year's Day.
Now the Virginia House of Delegates has sent to the Senate Norfolk Del. George H. Heilig Jr.'s bills to free VPA to better compete for new cargo business. The bills, which the Senate should also pass, would (1) exempt the authority from the capital-outlay provisions of the state Public Procurement Act, thus freeing the authority to invest in cranes and storage facilities needed to service additional business and (2) enable the VPA to offer compensation packages that would attract and retain energetic, experienced marketing personnel. Marketing the port is VPA's principal mission.
And there will be an abundance of business to be had from new merchant ships able to transport 6,000 containers of cargo. These ships are too big for some ports. Hampton Roads' channel depth can easily accommodate these fully laden behemoths; New York/New Jersey's channel depth cannot.
New York/New Jersey proposes to solve its channel-depth problem by spending tens of millions of dollars on dredging - work that will have to be repeated within a half-dozen years because of silting.
By contrast, dredging is inexpensive in Hampton Roads ($1 to $2 per cubic yard compared with New York/New Jersey's $100 and up). Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy's requirement for deep channels for aircraft carriers and other deep-draft ships is a guarantee that Hampton Roads will welcome the biggest ships afloat indefinitely.
Multimillion-dollar improvements to VPA's Hampton Roads terminals and Virginia Inland Port at Front Royal are under way. Cargo traffic at the terminals continues to increase rapidly - to the enrichment of Hampton Roads and all Virginia.
The state has had much good economic news in recent years. Much of it is happening on the Virginia waterfront. Freeing VPA to behave like a business will permit it to compete like one. That should bring more good news in the future.