one of the first industries in the colony of Virginia was shipbuilding
Source: National Park Service, Boat Building at Jamestown (painting by Sidney E. King)
Native Americans in Virginia made canoes that were stable enough for crossing the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Shore. Human muscle propelled those canoes; Virginia's first inhabitants did not develop the technology of sailing ships powered by wind.
shipping by canoe was common long before European colonists arrived
Source: Federal Highway Administration, 1607 The Indian Canoe (painting by Carl Rakeman)
The Spanish priests in 1570 and the English colonists in 1607 arrived by ship. The trees in Virginia that were the raw material for canoes became the raw material for building sailing ships. Shipyards were a common site along the coastline.
In the 1900's, there were still shipyards at Alexandria and Quantico on the Potomac River. The shipbuilding industry continues today, most notably in the construction of aircraft carriers and submarines at Newport News. In addition, various shipyards on the Elizabeth River repair commercial as well as military ships, and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard (in Portsmouth) business from the US Navy is constant.
ship maintenance and repair is a major business along the Elizabeth River
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers, IMG_4644 and IMG_4624
Since 1607, Virginia has always been engaged in international trade using ships constructed in other places. Modern tankers and container ships export products such as coal, soybeans, and tobacco. Imports of containerized cargo and bulk materials arrive at Hampton Roads ports, primarily.
containerized shipping revolutionized Virginia's port operations starting in the 1960's
Source: City of Norfolk, Norfolk From the Air
The Commonwealth of Virginia has consolidated control of the terminals that handle containerized cargo. The Virginia Port Athority owns or leases all the facilities where consumer goods from China and Europe are unloaded, though private companies still control individual shipping terminals for coal, petroleum, and grain. Consolidation has increased efficiency, allowing the state to schedule loading/unloading where space will be available.
The state even owns the chassis used to move containers from ships to rail cars or trucks. Having the state allocate all the chassis helps minimize congestion. In the "bad old days" when shippers owned the chassis, it was common for one company to have a shortage while another company's surplus supply sat idle.
In 2021, a supply chain interruption causes ships to wait long times at Wst Coast ports to unload. Few ships were delayed at Virginia ports, in part because ships stopped first at Miami/Savannah or New York before hopping along the coast to Norfolk/Newport News. Any delays occurred at the first East Coast port where ships stopped, not at Virginia in the middle of the Atlantic Coast visits.
Another reason for the smooth operations in Virginia was that it was the only place in North America in 2021 where the port owned the chassis pool. A National Public Radio story explored the history behind that unique situation:1
In 2020, the largest container ship ever to visit the East Coast to that time stopped at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) terminal. It could carry 15,072 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units at one time, but such vessels top at multiple ports to load/unload just a portion of their cargo. At the Portsmouth terminal, port workers moved 3,300 containers from the ship as imported goods, or onto it for export.2
massive container ships stop at the three terminals of the Port of Virginia in Hampton Roads
Source: I-564 Intermodal Connector Project, Project Fact Sheet
In 2022, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency in the Department of Homeland Security shifted oversight of Virginia ports and airports from its Atlanta office to Baltimore. That consolidated responsibility for customs and security for the Chesapeake Bay in one office. The Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News remained unchanged, except it reported to a different office after the shift.3
the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency office overseeing Virginia ports was in Atlanta until a shift in 2022 to Baltimore
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia - 1401
colonial waterfronts were industrial areas of a town, with wharves and warehouses
Source: National Park Service, Colonial Yorktown Waterfront (painting by Sidney E. King)
a pre-World War II postcard shows a ferry that ran between the Eastern Shore and Princess Anne County (now the City of Virginia Beach) until the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964
Source: Boston Public Library, S. S. Pocahontas, automobile and passenger transport between Kiptopeke Beach and (Little Creek) Va., Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk honors its nautical history with a statue of a sailor at Freemason Harbor