NORFOLK, Va. — The things you buy in the store have to come from somewhere, and there's a good chance they passed through the Port of Virginia.
Now, there's an effort to make what's already one of the busiest ports in the country even busier.
There were 26 million tons of cargo moved through the Port of Virginia last year.
"You can find in containers almost any manufactured good, but important supply chains passing through the port are items like medicine, furniture, tobacco, soybeans, items like toys and so-on. It's almost infinite," said Ricardo Ungo director of Old Dominion University's Maritime, Ports and Logistics Institute.
Researchers at the College of William and Mary found the port created more than 565,000 jobs statewide and generated $63 billion in gross state product in 2022.
That's just one part of its mark on the surrounding area.
"Sometimes people forget how the goods are getting to the shelves," added Ungo.
Now, port directors say they're taking steps to boost efficiency to make the facility more efficient. That's why the Port of Virginia is set to purchase $150 million in crane equipment as part of the North Berth project.
Cranes on the port handle much of the material in high-flow areas. As the North Berth project kicks off, dozens of additional cranes will replace the existing straddle carrier operation.
"The purpose for doing it is to make sure we are in lockstep with what all the big port users and big port customers want," said Stephen Edwards, CEO and executive director of Virginia Port Authority.
Project leaders say the clean electric cranes will help them reach their carbon-neutral goal. They hope the cranes, along with other planned improvements, will eventually double the amount of cargo they can process.
Port officials hope the purchase of 36 new automated clean electric stacking cranes will help them move more goods through the ports.
Construction on the North Berth project will kick off this summer. The first 18 of the new cranes are expected to arrive in 2025.
