Port of Virginia Completes Project to Dredge East Coast's Deepest Harbor
The Port of Virginia and its contractors have finished work on the deepest shipping channel and harbor on the U.S. East Coast, the linchpin of the port's ambitions to become the most modern and competitive container port on the Eastern Seaboard.
The gigantic dredging project was approved by the USACE in 2018, and construction started in 2023. The long-term objective is to make the port hospitable for ultra-large container vessels, the biggest boxship class in the Atlantic trade lanes. ULCVs are common on Asia-Europe routes but not generally used for the East Coast because of various infrastructure restrictions, including harbor depth, air draft and crane capacity.
The dredging work finished at the end of February, and surveys and final maintenance work are under way. Once depth has been fully verified, the navigational charts will be updated, and Virginia will officially have a channel capable of handling two-way, fully laden ULCV traffic.
The investment in harbor depth is part of a $1.4 billion plan to future-proof the port. Other elements include expansion of intermodal rail yard capacity to 1.8 million TEU per year, the largest ship-to-rail capability on the East Coast. The Norfolk International Terminal is also getting new semi-automated RTGs and new STS cranes to modernize cargo movement.
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Taken together with the harbor's unrestricted air draft, the port believes these investments will check all the boxes for the next generation of larger, more efficient vessels.
"Delivering projects like the 55-foot channel are important today, but the real value is in how these projects position us for the future," said Sarah McCoy, interim executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. "With all of our foundational elements in place, we are assuring our customers and port users that they will be able to expand their operations and cargo volumes at The Port of Virginia without concern for outgrowing our capabilities. We’re prepared today for the demands of the next five, ten or fifteen years."