Image by Missy Schmidt from Hampton Roads, Virginia - FLICKR, CC BY 2.0
The Port of Virginia might just be one of the top performing ports in the US. While, over the last six years, U.S. ports have grown, on average, at a rate of 6%, Virginia managed to far surpass such expectations with a 49.5% growth rate when it comes to its handling of shipping containers. All this while serving as a unique connection with the entire world, both to close by ports in the Caribbean while also reaching as far as India. Thus, it should come as no surprise that, in 2023 it ranked as the 10th largest in North America and 8th largest in the country—as well as the third largest in the US East Coast.
Given its importance, we at Desteia put together a list of the most important statistics about the port and its true impact on the US economy.
Where Is the Port of Virginia Located?
The Port of Virginia consists of a series of terminals in the southernmost part of the state, right on the historic Chesapeake bay. In all, when speaking of the port of Virginia, you are really referring to five terminals all placed in the vicinity of the James River. Given its location, the port is able to reach roughly 75% of the U.S. population in less than two days.
How Many TEUs Can the Port of Virginia Handle?
The specific number of TEUs—a common metric for containers—handled by the Port of VA varies year to year. In our most recent report (The State of North American Ports by Desteia), we found that the port handled over 3.3 million TEUs in 2023 alone. Although, we should note, that, at the time of writing our report, the Port of Virginia had yet to release official figures for the year 2023—at least in the data sets we considered in our research—, so we used a statistical approximation to better understand port dynamics.
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Over the last six years, the port exhibited a largely positive trend. Containerized cargo plateaued between 2018 and 2020—in fact, the growth rate for that period suggests a contraction of 1.5% in cargo managed. However, after the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, containerized activity grew dramatically in the Port of Virginia. In 2020, it was estimated that the port handled 2.1 million TEUs whereas in 2021, that number grew to 2.7 million. By 2022, the total number of containers grew to 3.6 million. Although we predicted a decrease in 2023 to 3,3 million given broader trends in comparable U.S. ports, this is still a prominent figure. In fact, these figures suggest a considerable growth rate of 49.5% in the last six years—a figure that’s well above the national average of 8.8% for that same period, and make the port of Virginia a top performer.
How Many Tons of Cargo Can the Port of Virginia Handle?
Similarly to the number of TEUs, the total tons of cargo handled by the port of Virginia vary year to year. However, it is worth noting that this metric reflects a different kind of trade than TEUs. When speaking of TEUs, we are focusing just on containerized trade—namely, the merchandise being transported in a multimodal shipping container. Other forms of cargo such as fuels or chemicals that are not often carried in containers, are left out of such a metric. As such, tons of cargo tends to look at the remainder of trade not brought into the Port of Virginia by conventional containers.
In Desteia's The State of Ports in North America, we found that the port of Virginia handled over 58.2 million tons of cargo as of 2021—the last year for which data from the port was made publicly available. However, while containerized cargo was increasing, we saw a steady decrease in the overall number of tons of cargo handled in Virginia. By 2019, total cargo handled had fallen to a weight of 55.9 million tons, before reaching a low of 52.6 million in 2020. Although we did see a slight increase to 58.2 million tons in 2021, this means that, over a four year period, cargo handled decreased by 10.1%.
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Where Does the Port of Virginia Import and Export?
Despite common conceptions of the port of Virginia as focused on transatlantic trade, the port is actually well connected with the rest of the world. In fact, the single largest trade lane for Virginia was not Europe or North America, as one would expect, but rather Northeast Asia (likely referring to China). In 2021, Virginia traded some 11.9 million short tons worth of goods with South East Asia. Similarly, in second place, came Northern Europe, with a total trade of 11.6 million short tons worth of goods.
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The above data also suggests that, by and large, the Port of Virginia serves as an exit point for U.S. merchandise. Looking just at 2021—the last year for which data was made publicly available—, exports far exceeded imports. In all, Virginia handled 46.5 million short tons in exports while, in that same year, it handled just 15.04 million short tons in imports. Meaning that exports more than doubled the size of imports.
How Does the Port of Virginia Compare to Other Ports?
The port of Virginia is a vital entry point for US trade, both from Europe, but also reaching as far as Asia. In total, it handles 5.25% of all containers in North America, and little above 6.5% of all US trade—resulting in billions of dollars of revenue for South Carolina. As a result, we found that Virginia has the 10th largest port in the region when it comes to containerized cargo and 8th largest in the US, comparable to the ports of Oakland in California and Virginia in Washington. However, it is worth noting that Virginia is far from being one of the largest ports in North America and its total TEUs in 2023 only accounted for about 22.5% of those handled by the port of Los Angeles (the largest in the US).
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