The Port of Virginia Gains West Coast South America Services with Direct Calls for Dry, Refrigerated Cargo

Upgraded services will connect cargo owners with several new markets

February 7, 2024

NORFOLK, VA - The Port of Virginia® is expanding its portfolio of international connections with two new services that connect directly with the Latin American market.

"This is an important development because it opens up an opportunity, that previously didn't exist, to directly do business in some growing, important markets in South and Central America," said Stephen A. Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. "This is going to create an opportunity for perishable commodities and seafood imports coming into Virginia and for exports of products like pork and poultry headed to the west coast of South America.

"We have not had a service that called South America's west coast and the result was most poultry exports moved via transshipment, or to other US East Coast ports. Now this direct service allows us to become more competitive in this area of business in both directions, north- and southbound."

One service is a combined effort by ocean carriers CMA CGM and ONE. The CMA Americas XL and the ONE FLX are now linking The Port of Virginia to ports in Columbia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Columbia and Panama.

"As ONE expands its North American port coverage on the FLX service, The Port of Virginia will play a key role by allowing us to better serve the South American customer base, especially with the refrigerated market," said Dan Sheehy, senior vice president, Product & Network at Ocean Network Express (ONE).

In this particular service, The Port of Virginia is the last stop on the US East Coast allowing exporters more time to get their goods to the port and to the international destination more quickly, Edwards said.

The other new service is offered by ocean carrier MSC, which has added South and Central American port calls of its Ecuador NWC service to its Scan Baltic service. The expanded service, named the Ecuador - NWC & Scan Baltic - USA, calls ports in Bahamas, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru and Ecuador.

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The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VPA owns and through its private operating subsidiary, Virginia International Terminals, LLC (VIT), operates four general cargo facilities Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port in Warren County. The VPA leases Virginia International Gateway and Richmond Marine Terminal. A recent economic impact study from The College of William and Mary shows that The Port of Virginia helps to create more than 437,000 jobs and generated $1 billion in total economic impact throughout the Commonwealth on an annual basis.

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