Followups – October 2017

Bigger ships continue to arrive at Port of Virginia
The biggest container ship to come to the East Coast, the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, made its first stop at the Port of Virginia in late August.

The Roosevelt’s cargo capacity is 14,400 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs. Its arrival at the port eclipsed a short-lived record for the largest ship it has served.

Increasing larger ships have arrived at the port since the recent expansion of the Panama Canal.

The Port of Virginia had its busiest August on record, handling 240,605 TEUs. That is a 2.2 percent increase over August 2016.

On a year-to-date basis, total TEU volumes are up 7.4 percent, and containers are up 7.7 percent. During the same time period, cargo moved via rail was up 4.7 percent, trucks up 9 percent and barge up 26 percent.

In its September cover story, Virginia  Business examined the need for deepening and widening channels at the port to accommodate larger ships.

Sweet Briar changes tuition and curriculum
Beginning in the 2018-19 academic year, Sweet Briar College plans to reset its annual cost of tuition, room, board and fees to $34,000 — a 32 percent drop compared to this year’s total price of $50,055 — and offer a more flexible curriculum.

The changes at the private, women’s college came not quite four months into the tenure of new college President Meredith Woo. She has said her overarching goal was to make Sweet Briar a relevant model for the 21st century. The 116-year-old college nearly closed in 2015 due to financial challenges and dropping enrollment, but was saved when alumni and other friends of the institution donated money and went to court to keep the college open.

Virginia Business interviewed Woo in its September issue.