the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad built its coal terminal at Newport News, and CSX still delivers coal there for export
Source: Boston Public Library, Chesapeake and Ohio Terminal, Newport News, VA
the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad built its coal terminal at Newport News, and CSX still delivers coal there for export
Source: Boston Public Library, Chesapeake and Ohio Terminal, Newport News, VA
In addition to the terminals owned or leased by the Virginia Port Authority, there are private shipping terminals in Virginia. Most are on the Elizabeth River and the James River, and primarily handle cargo that is not in containers.
Hampton Roads is the busiest coal exporting site in the United States. The Virginian Railroad's coal-shipping terminal at Sewell's Point is now the site of Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest navy base, but three other terminals export coal to Europe, South America, and other destinations.
The CSX railroad carries coal down the Peninsula to two privately-owned coal terminals in Newport News.
unlike Norfolk Southern, CSX delivers coal to two private terminals in Newport News and does not own a coal export pier in Virginia
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), 7.5-minute map for Newport News South, VA (2016)
Kinder Morgan's Pier IX and Pier X are each 1,200 foot long, and can ship 16 million tons/year. A separate coal export terminal owned by Dominion Terminal Associates has a pier 1,162 feet long.
CSX brings coal to Newport News, where Dominion Terminal Associates has a pier to load that coal onto bulk carriers
Source: Port of Virginia, 2013 Annual Report (p.50)
The Norfolk Southern railroad exports coal from its large Pier 6 terminal at Lamberts Point in Norfolk. From that 1,850 feet long pier, Norfolk Southern can export 48 million tons/year.1
Norfolk Southern's Pier 6 is at Lambert's Point in Norfolk, just south of Norfolk International Terminals (NIT)
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Until 2015, drivers crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel could look east and see ships waiting to load coal at Norfolk or Newport News "parked" near Lynnhaven. Then the US Navy had the anchorage moved to the other side of the bridge-tunnel near Cape Charles. The shift was required to reduce conflicts with military training operations associated with Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.2
Hampton Roads exports both bituminous "steam" coal, burned to generate electricity, and metallurgical ("met") coal used for making steel, mined in Kentucky, West Virginia and western Virginia. Only 2% of the coal shipped through Hampton Roads goes to other US ports. The vast majority of the exported coal is shipped to other countries for steel production.
World economic cycles shape the demand for the coal. The United States is the "swing supplier" that meets peaks in demand and loses business when economic activity slumps, and Hampton Roads is the world's largest coal export port.
Coal shipments fluctuate with the international economy. In 2002, at the end of one economic recession, Hampton Roads shipped just 12.5 million tons of coal. In 2012, as business in China, India, and Brazil expanded, Hampton Roads shipped nearly 50 million tons of coal. That amount had last been reached in the early 1990's. The 2012 peak declined quickly; shipping companies shipped only 22 million tons from Hampton Roads in 2016.3
Perdue Agribusiness ships soybeans from its private terminal on the Elizabeth River (purple circle) and KinderMorgan handles bulk cargo at its private terminal further south (green circle)
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Norfolk South 7.5 minute topographic quad (2011)
KinderMorgan, the "largest independent terminal operator in North America," owns the Elizabeth River Terminal (ERT) on the South Branch of the Elizabeth River, upstream (south) of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT). Elizabeth River Terminal (ERT) handles mostly bulk cargo such as fertilizer, scrap steel, and other commodities.
Perdue Agribusiness also has a private terminal on the South Branch of the Elizabeth River in the City of Chesapeake. Starting in 2011, Perdue began exporting soybeans to China from that Chesapeake terminal, which it described as "the only soybean-processing facility on deep water on the East Coast."
In 2013, the company agreed to export $100 million of soybeans (two million bushels in each of four shipments in Panamax vessels) to Southeast Asia. Because its terminal's capacity was "maxxed out," the company briefly considered expanding to the under-utilized Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT).4
the terminal for Perdue Agribusiness (circled in red) is across the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
1. "Port Facilities," Port of Virginia Annual 2013, Virginia Maritime Association, 2013, p.21-22, http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.vamaritime.com/resource/resmgr/pa2013/pa2013_port_facilities.pdf; "Norfolk Harbor Navigation Improvements - Draft General Reevaluation Report and Environmental Assessment," US Army Corps of Engineers, November 7, 2017, pp.25-27, p.34, http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Portals/31/docs/civilworks/NrflkHrbrDeepening/Norfolk_Harbor_GRR_EA_Report.pdf (last checked November 11, 2017)
2. "Navy training moves coal ships to Cape Charles," The Virginian-Pilot, May 2, 2015, https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/navy-training-moves-coal-ships-to-cape-charles/article_ca174a4e-aefd-5950-ae27-5cb8d0c26d5b.html (last checked November 10, 2017)
3. "Hampton Roads coal exports fell for the 3rd year in a row. What's fueling the slide?," The Virginian-Pilot, February 11, 2017, https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/hampton-roads-coal-exports-fell-for-the-rd-year-in/article_41165cf7-3f66-50ef-be0a-5eebd1ec818a.html; "Coal's hard slide felt at port in Hampton Roads," The Virginian-Pilot, July 9, 2016, https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/coal-s-hard-slide-felt-at-port-in-hampton-roads/article_0b5e6d89-cf1e-502b-a69b-2fc8daa487f9.html; "Coal exports' weak start locally could signal trend," The Virginian-Pilot, May 11, 2015, http://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/coal-exports-weak-start-locally-could-signal-trend/article_e6fa4e35-47f1-5908-89e4-8488ecf6bbf2.html (last checked November 10, 2017)
4. "Elizabeth River, VA Terminal," KinderMorgan, http://www.kindermorgan.com/business/terminals/midatlantic/ma_ElizabethRiver.pdf; "Perdue looks at terminal in Portsmouth for growth," The Virginian-Pilot, January 16, 2013, http://hamptonroads.com/2013/01/perdue-looks-terminal-portsmouth-growth; "Governor McDonnell Announces Major New Customer for Virginia Soybean Exports," Governor of Virginia news release, August 13, 2013, http://www.governor.virginia.gov/News/viewRelease.cfm?id=1935 (last checked July 9, 2016)
key maritime facilities in Hampton Roads: 1) Newport News Shipbuilding, 2) Newport News Marine Terminal, 3) CSX-serviced coal terminals operated by Dominion Terminal Associates and Kinder Morgan at Pier IX, 4) Norfolk Naval Base, 5) Norfolk International Terminals, 6) site of proposed Craney Island Marine Terminal, 7) Virginia International Gateway (VIG), 8) Norfolk Southern Lambert's Point docks, 9) Portsmouth Marine Terminal, 10) Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 11) Perdue Agribusiness terminal, 12) Elizabeth River Terminal
Map Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Wetlands Mapper