Information on the Embargo for Wednesday, March 4th

The Virginia Port Authority has issued the following:

Please note:

Port Partners and Customers, Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) and Virginia International Gateway (VIG) remain temporarily closed to all eastbound (export) intermodal traffic. The decision was enacted on Feb. 26 and remains in effect while The Port of Virginia’s rail operations team continues to address significant rail volume at NIT and VIG.

The decision to hold this traffic was made ahead of last week’s snow storm, which ended-up closing the port’s terminals for two days. Further, the port’s rail operations team was already addressing a backlog of rail cargo that developed as a result of the President’s Day snowstorm, which created a day-and-a-half of lost productivity at the port.

This proactive measure to halt delivery of export intermodal cargo is short-term and the port will communicate the status of rail operations at NIT and VIG. We are reviewing the progress daily and together with our rail partner, Norfolk Southern, anticipate announcing the date to resume rail acceptance of this traffic in the next 48 hours. Any change to this operating decision will be communicated immediately.

We apologize for this short-term disruption as the result of weather and volume demands and appreciate your attention on this issue.

Sincerely,

David White

Vice President

Virginia Maritime Association