Port of Va. partnering with Norfolk Southern

The Port of Virginia is part of a new partnership with Norfolk Southern Corp., Hapag-Lloyd and Union Pacific Railroad. The partners will provide expedited train shipping from the East Coast to the western U.S., Norfolk Southern announced last week.

The partnership, called OceaNS Bridge Express, will start at the Port of Virginia’s Norfolk International Terminals and interchange with Union Pacific in Chicago, with connections to West Coast markets.

“Union Pacific’s intermodal network is strategically positioned to provide container shippers an alternative with this overland service to the West Coast,” Kari Kirchhoefer, Union Pacific’s vice president of premium, said in a statement. “Our joint service product to Seattle/Oakland/Los Angeles/Long Beach will expedite these transatlantic shipments to consumer markets in the west.”

Although ports in the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District (including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland) have reported delays getting containers out of ports, Port of Virginia spokesman Joe Harris told Virginia Business in April that that wasn’t the case for the Port of Virginia.

“There has been some vessel queuing here and one of the biggest drivers of this is the fact that 90% of the world’s vessel fleet is off schedule,” he said. “Over the long term, we expect to maintain our efficiency.”

Norfolk Southern Corp., whose service area includes 22 states and Washington, D.C., moved its headquarters from Norfolk to Atlanta last year.