Posted on October 5, 2020
NORFOLK — The CEO and director of the Port of Virginia isn’t retiring until March, but he was lauded Thursday at an annual State of the Port event as if it were his last day.
John Reinhart, who was hired in 2014 to turn around a financially troubled port system that had toyed with privatization, told those watching to “continue to collaborate, continue to work together, because this is how we’ll make the Port of Virginia a world-class port.”
He emphasized that container volume last month was the largest it’s ever been in a September in the port’s history, up by more than 5,000 containers or 4.4% over last year, despite challenges that included a trade war and a pandemic.
“This is some really good traction we have,” he said, as the port emerged like many others from steep drops that coincided with the pandemic’s start.
Virginia Port Authority CEO and executive director John Reinhart, seen speaking online during the annual State of the Port event on Oct. 1, 2020 presented by the Hampton Roads Global Commerce Council.
He said challenges the port had overcome before prepared it for more recent hurdles, and it was quick to install COVID-19 response teams to ensure continuity and safety and to work with their customers to prioritize cargo needed for the pandemic response.
“We used the slower periods on our terminals to repair or replace equipment so we were 100% ready when the volumes returned,” he said. “Our infrastructure projects remain on schedule and on budget.”
Cargo moved by barge grew by 9%, and at its Richmond Marine Terminal volume grew by more than 22%, he said.
“I think October is going to be another good month,” he said, noting that the long-term effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic remain an unknown.
After growing 7.2% in 2017, container volume at the port was flat in 2018 and grew by 1.9% during the last calendar year. This year, volume was down every month, year over year, through August. The number of 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, which is used as a key port performance metric, is down 11.8% to 1.7 million in the first eight months of the year compared with the same time last year.
The full numbers for September haven’t been made public yet.
Reinhart said he was heartened to see a return to more normal levels, including month-over-month increases in total rail volume since April and three consecutive months of loaded import growth since June.
Reinhart has led the Virginia Port Authority amid a massive expansion that now allows it to handle the largest cargo ships in the world.
“We’re going to go deeper, wider and safer,” he said of continued dredging to make the port even more attractive for shippers. By 2024, that dredging will give them a route that’s 55 feet deep and up to 1,400 feet wide.
“What you need is here today,” he said of the port’s expanded infrastructure. When asked what he would tell his successor, who is still being sought by the authority, he said it would be to “build on what’s here. Continue to grow what this team has done to date.”
Earlier, while waiting for questions to be relayed to him online, he noted the scene behind him from the Port’s board room overlooking the Norfolk International Terminal. “It’s done,” he said. “It is a thing of beauty” that “operates like a charm.”
Presented by the Hampton Roads Global Commerce Council, the State of the Port event went virtual this year with a pre-recorded segment and then live comments by Reinhart at the end.
He thanked his wife of 46 years, Mary, who allowed him to dedicate his life to the sea, much of it with Maersk and then the port.
“She’s worked for you, without pay,” he said of her support. Lacing his fingers to crack his knuckles, he leaned into the camera to say, “Honey, I’m a lucky man.”
Source:pilotonline
