![]() ![]() Virginia claims to have "the deepest natural harbor on the east coast" at Norfolk, but that claim ignores the natural harbor at Eastport, Maine. Source: US Army Corps of Engineers, Fact Sheet, Baltimore Harbor & Channels, Maryland and Virginia (January 2006) The US Army Corps of Engineers maintains a shipping channel in the Chesapeake Bay for ships going to Baltimore The Corps also dredges a shipping channel for traffic going north to Baltimore. To support the US Navy and civilian traffic, the US Army Corps of Engineers now maintains a 50' deep shipping channel from the Atlantic Ocean to terminals in Hampton Roads, and a 25' deep channel up the James River to Richmond. The military presence in Hampton Roads helps get Congressional support for appropriations to improve the shipping channels and the local transportation network, both rail and highway. The Port of Virginia relies heavily upon Federal funding to maintain and even deepen the existing shipping channels. Most cargo going through Norfolk International Terminal (NIT) is containerized ![]() Such multi-modal shipping can be faster than the all-water route through the Panama Canal to Norfolk, Portsmouth, or Newport News. Louis, or even destinations on the East Coast. Containers are loaded on a train headed to Chicago, St. Manufacturers from Asia can deliver goods in a 40-foot or 53-foot shipping container to Los Angeles, where the shipping channel is 53' deep. Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Tunnel Inventory Hampton Roads tunnels allow for navigable waterways above them to be 35' to 55' deep The worst case scenario is that competing ports would complete their channel deepening projects first, and ocean shippers would make Virginia's ports just a secondary destination. Virginia also competes with West Coast ports, from San Diego to Vancouver. Virginia's major ports are in competition with other ports on the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, New York to Houston. Source: US Department of Transportation, Atlantic Port Call by Tonnage, 2009) In 2009, Norfolk edged out Savannah to take second place among East Coast ports for total tonnage of cargo handled Hampton Roads Shipping Channels and Port Competition Hampton Roads Shipping Channels and Port Competition ![]()
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