Thousands of containers, dozens of construction vehicles and tons of coal are moving through Hampton Roads terminals as the port helps Baltimore with diverted shipments because of a recent bridge collapse.
“To me, it’s an example of how our industry needs to be nimble and responsive to the situation at hand,” said David White, executive director of the Virginia Maritime Association.
After the impact from a cargo vessel collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge and closed the Baltimore harbor March 26, cruises and cargo bound for the port have been rerouted to Hampton Roads and other locations along the East Coast.
The Port of Virginia’s state-run terminals could process anywhere from 18,000 to 20,000 rerouted containers this month, Virginia Port Authority spokesperson Joe Harris said. As a result of the extra truck traffic, he said the port has extended its operating hours at Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth and is educating Baltimore drivers on how to use the terminal’s reservation system.
Hampton Roads terminal services company CP&O showed an army of bulldozers, backhoes and other construction equipment lined up in rows in a recent video on how the business is supporting the Port of Baltimore. The equipment was diverted from Baltimore and offloaded at Newport News Marine Terminal, a company official confirmed. Last year, the Port of Baltimore handled 1.3 million tons of farm and construction machinery and 850,000 cars and light trucks, according to New York Times reporting.
“We’re not going to get all of it. It’s going to get spread out throughout the Eastern Seaboard, but I think every port is doing what it can to help out their situation,” Michael “Robbie” Robertson, CP&O loss control manager, said in the video posted to social media.
A CP&O official also confirmed the company was helping unload baggage and stock stores on the diverted Baltimore cruises arriving in Norfolk. Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruises have been diverted to Norfolk’s Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center.
Transport companies also are diverting coal from Baltimore to Hampton Roads. The amount of coal handled by Norfolk Southern’s Lamberts Point facility in Norfolk could increase by 25-35% as a result, a spokesperson said. The facility typically handles from 1 million to 1½ million tons per month.
The company also is working to minimize the number of stopped trains on roadways near the coal terminal, a spokesperson said in an email. At times, the spokesperson said, a crossing gets bottlenecked by traffic, a train may need to hold because of impediments on the track ahead or the company runs into federally mandated crew rest time or mechanical issues.
In recent years, longer trains have led to mounting complaints of stopped locomotives along railroad crossings, sometimes delaying emergency vehicles, according to Virginian-Pilot reporting. Regional planners are investigating the issue to look for ways to improve the crossings.
The Baltimore channel could reopen to some ship traffic by the end of the month and fully open by the end of May, according a tentative timeline from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Until then, Hampton Roads stevedores will be prepared to handle the extra workload caused by the diversions, International Longshoremen’s Association spokesperson Thomas Little said in an email. Little said the additional containers had increased work hours for the stevedores — the workers who help load and unload cargo.
“We hope that the channel in Baltimore is cleared as soon as possible so that the Port and citizens’ lives can go back to normal,” Little said.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
