by Barrett Baker
One of the defining characteristics of Coastal Virginia is its proximity to water, a feature that benefits each of the region’s municipalities. Portsmouth, however, holds a distinctive position within the local marine economy. The Port of Virginia, one of the region’s most significant economic drivers and a critical hub in the national supply chain, operates across several cities, including Portsmouth, Newport News, and Norfolk. Notably, two of its four terminals—the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) and the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT)—are located in Portsmouth.
Though the Norfolk International Terminal (NIT) has more than 90 semi-automated stacking cranes and is capable of an annual terminal capacity of 3.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), Portsmouth’s terminals make significant contributions. First, Portsmouth’s Virginia International Gateway (VIG) has more than 50 semi-automated stacking cranes and 2.2 million TEU capacity, which helps to offset the shipping traffic coming into the port. For every three cargo ships that come into Coastal Virginia, NIT takes two, and VIG gets one. The process of loading and offloading cargo is a carefully choreographed dance.
Helping to make the dance between NIT and VIG work, is the Norfolk terminal which has direct access to I-64, a boon for truck transport. The Virginia International Gateway has nearly 20,000 linear feet of rail track with on-deck connections to Norfolk Southern and CSX railways, which is perfect for transporting cargo by rail. This infrastructure is one reason why the Port of Virginia continues to break records for cargo volume. Portsmouth is a major contributor to that success.
“Portsmouth’s position as a Mid-Atlantic maritime gateway provides a significant edge impacting our business attraction and retention efforts,” says Brian Donahue, Director of Portsmouth Economic Development. “Importantly, the regional workforce provides a unique labor pool of qualified workers engaged in the ship repair/ship building industry. Moreover, given the recent White House historic Executive Order to restore American maritime dominance, Portsmouth is the epicenter for the resurrection of the American maritime industry.”
Case in point, Fairlead, a Portsmouth-based company specializing in shipbuilding, systems engineering, and advanced manufacturing for the U.S. Navy, has experienced significant growth at their Portsmouth facilities. Fairlead also recently announced the launch of Fairlead Ventures, a venture capital arm focused on strengthening the U.S. maritime industrial base, which will continue to strengthen Portsmouth’s, and Coastal Virginia’s overall marine economy.
Portsmouth Power
Another Portsmouth advantage is the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. Originally built to be a secondary container terminal to handle freight-bearing ships, it was repurposed as a platform for handling the gigantic components used in offshore wind turbine construction, aiming to make it the logistics center for the Mid-Atlantic’s growing offshore wind energy industry.
Because of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, Portsmouth is positioned to be the East Coast hub for offshore wind projects—not only as a dedicated port for incoming materials, but also as a place where local manufacturing companies can both assemble the parts for offshore windmills, and as a place where assembled materials can be reloaded onto ships for transportation out to the wind farms.
Skanska, a multi-national construction and development company announced in March of this year that they completed the $223 million redevelopment of the 72-acre Portsmouth Marine Terminal and 1,500-feet of dockside wharf. The terminal will be used as a collection and storage site for wind turbine components.
“The Portsmouth Marine Terminal serves as the strategic staging and logistics hub for Dominion Energy’s CVOW project, which is the second largest offshore wind project under construction globally,” says Donahue. “Numerous international companies have located in Coastal Virginia, and specifically Portsmouth, to support the project’s construction and future operations.”
The first windmill farm is expected to be positioned 27 miles east of Virginia Beach and encompasing an area that is roughly twice the size of the City of Norfolk. The 2.6-gigawatt offshore wind project will consist of 176 wind turbines, three offshore energy substations for energy collection, and undersea cables and transmission infrastructure to bring wind-driven energy to homes and businesses across Coastal Virginia. A second windmill farm is also scheduled to be built off the coast of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, which is expected to be completed by 2030. Portsmouth will play a major role in the construction and maintenance of both.
People Power
With growth in the marine sector, there will be a need for a skilled workforce to handle the jobs that make expansion and innovation possible.
Portsmouth is gearing up to help meet that demand by creating programs focused on training a workforce prepared to handle project-specific jobs.
“The maritime and defense industries are experiencing historic levels of growth and investment in Hampton Road,” says Donahue. “Portsmouth is in a lead position to support and benefit from current industry demands. In order to do so it will be critical that our workforce is ready and capable to fill the thousands of positions that will be created. Portsmouth Economic Development’s Portsmouth@Work program provides our residents with access to career training and credentialing programs in skilled trades at no cost to the participant. We are working to develop the region’s future talent pipeline and provide meaningful employment opportunities for our community.”
