The Port of Virginia moved 220,376 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in February, 351 TEUs lower than February 2016, but placing its fiscal-year-to-date growth at 6.9 percent.

The continued growth comes as the port has started the engineering and survey work on its capacity expansion plan at Virginia International Gateway (VIG); work at Norfolk International Terminals will begin this summer. These projects are the focus of the port's plan to expand annual throughput capacity by 40 percent " 1 million containers " in three years.

February 2016 was 29 days long versus 28, so our cargo flows remain consistent with a good balance in our export-import trade, said John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. We are preparing for a period of significant activity as the new alliance vessel calls begin in April and the construction work begins to progress. Our messages of expansion, our capacity to handle the large vessels and our ability to move that cargo to market by either train truck or barge are gathering traction within the industry. We remain focused on the goal of consistency during this transition period.