Amherst County recently completed one of the largest industrial shell buildings in its region and is readying other industrial sites.
It’s a foundation for the next generation of economic development, county leaders hope.
Amherst’s new shell building — finished in late December in the Amelon Commerce Center — is the only publicly owned spec building of its size in the four counties, five towns and one city that the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance represents, according to Megan Lucas, its CEO and chief economic development officer.
The building, which could be occupied by up to four tenants, is 45,000 square feet, with a pad that allows for another 20,000 square feet of expansion. It offers 36-foot ceiling heights and translucent panels that allow natural light to stream inside.
“You don’t feel like you’re in this dark, cavernous building, working away,” says Victoria Hanson, executive director of the Amherst County Economic Development Authority.
Built by Blair Construction of Gretna, the new building cost $9 million, according to Hanson, who said funding for the project includes a $5.6 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Authority and a $1.25 million loan.
So far, the authority has had a few inquiries about the building, but Hanson expects interest to pick up after manufacturers figure out how new federal tariffs will affect expansion plans.
Additionally, Amherst County is developing the 554-acre property known as the Dillard Site and a 100-acre plot along State Route 210. Both sites sit close to U.S. 29.
The Dillard Site offers rail access, water and gas and high-capacity electrical service. Its largest lot could accommodate a 1 million-square-foot building, according to Hanson.
The county is working to identify environmental issues and prepare grading plans for both properties, hoping to soon have the Dillard Site at Tier 4, the next-to-highest level in Virginia’s scale of industrial site readiness, and the other property at Tier 3.
Work at the Dillard Site has been funded with $189,000 of authority money and a $322,071 state grant, and on Virginia 210 with $56,133 from the authority and $112,267 from the state, Hanson says.
The authority also markets the Town of Amherst’s L. Barnes Brockman Sr. Business and Industrial Park, which in mid-March had about 200 acres available, according to Town Manager Sara McGuffin.
“There’s an opportunity for people to build and grow their businesses,” she says.
Chesterfield gained over 30,000 new residents since 2020
Remote workers drawn by affordable homes and new construction
Lego’s $1B facility seeks 1,700 employees in growing labor pool
County labor force increased by nearly 20,000 since 2020
Northern Virginians, particularly remote workers seeking more affordable housing, are helping fuel a population boom in Chesterfield County.
The county is gaining about 19 residents daily, reflecting a population swell from 364,548 in April 2020 to 394,825 in July 2024, the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service estimates.
The gain of more than 30,000 residents was the largest increase in the state.
“Chesterfield, in some ways, is becoming a suburb of Northern Virginia,” says Hamilton Lombard, the center’s demographer.
People who don’t need to be in the office every day are attracted by the price difference between housing in Northern Virginia and Chesterfield and the amount of new construction in the county, he says.
“It’s also pulling a lot of people from Henrico [County] and Richmond, so there’s a sort of cascading effect as well. People come into Henrico, prices go up. People come down to Chesterfield,” Lombard says. “The No. 1 thing, I think, is just the construction. They’re building and it’s near enough to D.C.”
Chesterfield currently has more than 30,000 residential lots approved and has seen more than 14,000 constructed in the last five years, says Kathryn Abelt, Chesterfield Economic Development‘s GIS and research director.
The county’s appeal is its quality of life, says Garrett Hart, Chesterfield Economic Development’s director. “That means schools first, public safety, participatory sports, parks and recreation, and then it’s an easy locality to deal with and get around.”
Chesterfield’s growing population is also attracting major corporations such as Lego Group, which is building a 1.7 million-square-foot plant in the county’s Meadowville Technology Park.
“Companies that have jobs are chasing talent; talent isn’t chasing jobs,” says Hart. “That’s why one of the first questions Lego asked us was, ‘Where are we going to get our 1,700 employees?’
“We go through our demographic numbers and our growth and our existing workforce and show them how they are going to get that done,” he adds.
“So, it’s important to us that we’re growing and we’re attracting talent.”
The county is at an all-time high for jobs, with more than 7,700 announced over the last six years. Chesterfield’s labor force has also grown from 183,193 in December 2020 to 201,863 in December 2024, Abelt says.
“Workforce continues to be among the most important factors in a business choosing Chesterfield,” she explains. “We share this data often.”
The Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility earlier this year announced the estimated cost to construct the 2.6-gigawatt project had jumped 9%, from $9.8 billion to $10.7 billion. The price increase is due to higher onshore electrical connection costs and network upgrades assigned by regional electric grid operator PJM. New electric generation resources are assigned costs determined necessary to effectively integrate the resources while safeguarding the electric grid’s reliability and stability.
As a result, customer bills will rise by an average of 43 cents per month. The upsurge is the first increase in CVOW’s budget since Dominion submitted plans to the Virginia State Corporation Commission in 2021.
Meanwhile, within hours of beginning his second term in the Oval Office, Trump issued an executive order freezing new offshore wind leases in federal waters and directing the Department of the Interior to review wind projects’ environmental impacts, as well as the economic effects of intermittent electric generation.
The nation’s largest offshore wind farm currently under construction, CVOW completed the federal approval process during the Biden administration and is not impacted by Trump’s order.
However, the president’s opposition to wind energy could impact Hampton Roads’ bid to become the supply chain hub for the offshore wind energy industry. The Virginia Port Authority, which runs the Port of Virginia, invested $233 million to upgrade 72 acres of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal and 1,500 feet of wharf space to stage offshore wind components, which will be transferred onto installation vessels. New York-based construction firm Skanska completed the project in March.
“Virginia makes a very strong case for being the hub for offshore wind and a myriad of other industries,” says Virginia Department of Energy Director Glenn Davis, who notes Hampton Roads’ status as the East Coast’s deepest port.
Last summer, LS GreenLink USA, a subsidiary of a South Korean undersea cable manufacturer, announced it would build a $681 million plant with 330 employees in Chesapeake to produce submarine electrical cables for offshore wind projects. Construction on the facility was set to begin in late April, with completion slated for the third quarter of 2027. The plant is set to be fully operational by 2028.
“We are still moving forward with the project,” says Patrick Y. Shim, the company’s managing director. However, a planned future investment has been put on hold.
“We hope the Trump administration keeps offshore wind going,” he adds. “We like the American workforce and want to do more in Virginia, but we need a better idea of where everything is heading.”
LS GreenLink USA received a $99 million federal tax credit tied to its job creation and money invested from the U.S. Department of Energy in April 2024 under the Biden administration.
Regardless, construction on CVOW is continuing and was halfway finished as of March, with 78 of 176 turbine foundations and the first offshore substation installed. More than half of the deepwater offshore export cables were installed by the end of October 2024. The process was paused until May to avoid disrupting North Atlantic right whale migration.
Wind turbine tower and blade fabrication are also underway, while production of nacelles, the containers used to house turbine working parts, began in March.
In addition, the first turbines are scheduled to be constructed later this year, says Dominion spokesman Jeremy Slayton.
“We’re confident CVOW will be completed on time,” he says. “Bipartisan leaders agree it has been an economic boon for Virginia. It’s creating thousands of jobs, stimulating billions in economic growth and delivering reliable and affordable energy for our customers.”
Dominion has long promoted the project’s environmental and economic benefits, including reduced carbon emissions and an expected $3 billion in customer fuel savings during its first 10 years in operation. The state’s transition to renewable energy is part of the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act that requires Dominion to supply 100% of electricity from renewable power sources by 2045.
In addition, sea trials for Charybdis, the utility’s wind turbine installation vessel and the first built in the U.S., began over the winter. Constructed in Texas, Charybdis will be delivered to Dominion later this year to support CVOW, as well as other offshore wind projects, whose future could now be in doubt under the Trump administration.
Despite offshore wind’s tenuous future, Hampton Roads has an advantage over other areas with similar projects because CVOW falls outside Trump’s executive order, says Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
While Dominion has not established a timeline to develop its other two ocean leases — the 40,000-acre CVOW-South off Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and the 176,505-acre section adjacent to CVOW — the permitting process for those projects would not begin during the Trump administration. The utility says those two plots would not be developed until at least the 2030s.
“Long term, the outlook for Hampton Roads is still very good because those projects are not slated to go through the federal permitting process in the next four years,” Kollins says. “Other work can be done, such as surveys, studies and contract negotiations with suppliers, while waiting on the federal permitting process to move forward.”
Nevertheless, she notes that investments require market and regulatory certainties, which ultimately hinge on Trump’s support for offshore wind: “There are many billions of dollars in investment if the president would provide some more certainty. Easily $20 billion of investment is waiting in the wings throughout the country.”
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia unsealed a whistleblower complaint against Sentara Health that accused the Hampton Roads health care system of improperly inflating Charlottesville-area insurance rates on the Affordable Care Act exchange in 2018 and 2019. (March 25)
A Roanoke Valley emergency room doctor’s $20 million lawsuit went to jury trial April 8, with Dr. Thomas Bolton alleging that he was fired for complaining that HCA Healthcare‘s emphasis on shorter ER wait times at LewisGale Medical Center and its Cave Spring ER had a negative impact on patient safety. (April 7)
On March 13, the Trump administration’s new Federal Housing Finance Agency director fired Diana Reid, CEO of Freddie Mac, the Tysons-based government-backed mortgage financing provider. (March 24)
LS GreenLink USA announced plans to break ground April 28 in Chesapeake on its $680 million-plus offshore wind subsea cable manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in the United States. (March 25)
Portsmouth to build $6M rail transload facility for ag exports
Earlier this year, Hampton Roads received $2.4 million in state funding to support a seafood market in Newport News, vital shipyard improvements in Norfolk and a dual rail transload facility in Portsmouth.
The money, which comes from the Port Host Communities Revitalization fund distributed by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, is meant to be used to revitalize and redevelop port-related properties to further economic development and employment growth. Newport News, Portsmouth and Norfolk received $800,000 each.
The seafood market will be located in the Newport News-owned Seafood Industrial Park, a seafood harbor that is an important part of the city’s economy.
Florence Kingston, director of development for Newport News, describes the seafood market as a “critical community improvement project.” The roughly 7,800-square-foot facility will allow sales of fresh seafood and house a commercial kitchen supporting four food vendors, which may include restaurants or stores where seafood is sold. Kingston says the building will also feature kiosks.
Work Program Architects has almost completed design work on the project, and the city hopes to go to bid this spring, begin construction this summer and have the market ready by the end of summer 2026.
While the $800,000 from the Port Host Communities Revitalization fund will fund some of the $9.1 million seafood market construction, the remainder will come from city bond funds and other grant programs.
“It’s a highly anticipated project, and I think it’s going to draw people and complement some of the other investments,” Kingston says. “We’re really grateful that we’re able to have a program that can help provide resources that help improve the commerce of your port and your community revitalization.”
For the City of Norfolk, $800,000 will go toward removing deteriorated bulkhead and degraded structures at Colonna’s Shipyard while redeveloping existing waterfront infrastructure.
Norfolk EDA spokesperson Mia Byrd Wilson says that the shoreline and landside approaching Colonna’s fabrication shop at 400 E. Indian River Road is in disrepair — including several antiquated and functionally obsolete structures, as well as overhead electrical lines that limit the activities that can be performed on the site.
To address this, the shipyard will demolish existing buildings and prepare the land for ship repair activities. Colonna’s will also take down the existing power lines and replace them with a new underground power system. The shipyard also plans to reconstruct the bulkhead for better water access.
“This project will increase vital shipbuilding and ship repair capacity on currently underutilized property along the river, increasing commerce and bringing additional jobs to the waterfront,” says Colonna’s Shipyard President Jordan Webb.
The EDA says the improvements are designed to decrease potential safety issues and increase yard productivity. Colonna’s Executive Assistant Ashley Wisniewski says the demolition of deteriorating structures is expected to be completed in the next 16 months. Tony Torres, Colonna’s director of industrial sales, says the project’s projected cost is $1.6 million and that the shipyard will cover any expenses not covered by the grant.
Portsmouth’s funding, meanwhile, will benefit the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad, which plans to use the funds to help construct a $6 million multi-commodity rail transload facility at 1040 Virginia Ave. to provide rail-to-container transloading. Railroad President Cannon Moss says that agricultural products would be loaded from rail cars into containers at the site, then transported to either the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth or Norfolk International Terminals in Norfolk.
According to Moss, CSX and Norfolk Southern trains would use the site. He says construction is set to start this year and hopes it will be completed before the end of 2025.
WHAT I DO FOR FUN: Travel to learn [about] new cultures
MOST INTERESTING PLACE I’VE VISITED:I love traveling to Europe — so much history and culture. However, Iceland was a very different destination with interesting landscapes, friendly people and delicious food.
WHAT GOES INTO MY DECISION-MAKING: I always take into consideration these three things: How is this going to impact our guests? How is this going to impact our team members? How is this going to impact our community?
MY THOUGHTS ABOUT AI: I welcome all technology with caution. While it is exciting to see all AI has to offer and all the future possibilities, it’s scary to think [that] if not properly regulated, we could have serious challenges in the future.
WHERE I SEE MYSELF 10 YEARS FROM NOW: My life has been so unpredictable, I try not to dictate where I’ll be tomorrow. I’ve been so blessed that I’m happy with whatever the future brings me.
DID YOU KNOW? When Evangelista left her native Brazil for Orlando, Florida, in the late 1990s, her first job was working as a hotel housekeeper at Homewood Suites.
Workforce pipeline supported by Virginia Tech, Radford, and local colleges
$2M housing trust fund aims to tackle housing shortages in the region
Their population has remained relatively steady, but the New River Valley and Roanoke Valley have seen a significant economic uptick, a statewide study determined earlier this year.
According to Old Dominion University’s 2024 State of the Commonwealth report, the counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski marked a rise in real gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.7% in 2023, the state’s second highest increase. Charlottesville, with 4.2%, came in first, and the City of Roanoke and Roanoke County saw a rise of 2.9%.
The Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metro region has recorded dramatic ups and downs in its GDP since 2019, with a fall of 2.5% in 2020 during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an 8.7% bounce in 2021, and a 4% increase in 2022.
This amounts to a 13.1% increase for the region’s GDP over the past five years, mirroring the state’s 13.2% rise, according to the report produced by ODU’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy.
According to the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service demographics report released in January, more than 3,000 people moved to the region — including Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski and Roanoke counties and the City of Roanoke — between April 2020 and July 2024. Elsewhere across the state, people left Fairfax County and Virginia Beach by the thousands, while Chesterfield, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties gained thousands of new residents.
So, what does all this mean for the Roanoke and New River valleys in 2025, as manufacturers and other companies confront tariffs that are likely to raise the cost of doing business and cut into profits?
“It feels a little murky now, but because we have a diverse set of industries, we can stand the shocks that come our way,” says Katie Boswell, executive director of Onward New River Valley, the region’s economic development organization. “We continue to grow the base with a diverse range of businesses that span industries, such as advanced manufacturing, information technology, food processing and uncrewed systems.”
One valuable partner, according to Boswell, is the Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Materials (AM2) Tech Hub, a Radford-based consortium of 50 private and public partners that promotes additive manufacturing, aka 3D printing. It was launched in 2023 with a $500,000 federal Tech Hubs Strategy Development Grant.
Hub members identify industry and supply chain gaps, and direct assets from western and Southern Virginia to fill them. Meanwhile, students get to visit some of the companies, like Meld Manufacturing, a Christiansburg company that makes 3D large-scale printers. “We want to let them see how innovative these jobs are right here in our backyard,” Boswell says.
In this effort to modernize and diversify its industries, the NRV has made strides in improving broadband access, enhancing transportation networks and providing incentives for business development, she adds. Still, there are some shortcomings in the valley, Boswell says. Housing is significantly scarce, which the Dragas report also notes.
“If Virginia is to grow in the future, it must rethink its policies towards housing,” the report says. “We need a ground-up approach to housing (no pun intended).”
But just like with other issues, the NRV is engaged in addressing its housing shortage. The New River Valley Regional Commission, an organization of 13 local governments and three higher education institutions, is providing more affordable housing to the region through a $2 million grant from not-for-profit Virginia Housing. The grant sets up a regional housing trust fund and is funding at least 20 new affordable housing units.
Now, Boswell says, the next big effort will be to design “a strategic roadmap” that ensures that the valley’s collaboration-first model works “on almost every initiative.”
Meld Manufacturing, a 3D metal printing company, is part of Christiansburg’s growing manufacturing industry. Photo courtesy The Downtown Creative
Close connections
NRV’s economic growth is “absolutely” connected to growth in Roanoke County and the City of Roanoke, says John Hull, Roanoke Regional Partnership executive director.
In addition to its GDP increase of 2.9%, Roanoke’s civilian labor force grew by 2.8% between 2020 and 2024.
“The community relationship is substantial between Roanoke and NRV,” Hull says. “There’s a good concentration of education. Virginia Tech ties the region together in direct and substantive ways.”
Manufacturing is a strong growth engine for the entire region, with advanced manufacturing technologies generating higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs, he adds. “The working environment is cleaner than people may remember from a bygone era.”
One manufacturing giant located in the area can trace its roots back to 1869 with the founding of the Westinghouse Air Brake Co. Now known as Wabtec Graham White, it is a global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and services for the freight and transit rail industries, as well as mining, marine and industrial markets.
The company, which currently has more than 200 employees in Salem, announced in 2023 it would invest $2.7 million to expand its existing Graham White facility.
Another manufacturing company with a long-time presence in the NRV is Massachusetts-based Hollingsworth & Vose, which has been in Floyd County since 1976. The global manufacturer of papers used in filtration and energy applications announced in 2023 a $40.2 million expansion of its operation. It added 28,000 square feet to its facility on Christiansburg Pike Northeast.
Nanci Hardwick, CEO of Meld Manufacturing in Christiansburg, sees NRV as a hot spot for advances in additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing. Her company uses 3D printers to produce metal objects. Rather than melting metal, Meld’s process builds products layer by layer, creating stronger products in the end. Among her customers are companies in the defense, aviation, space and semiconductor industries.
Many U.S. companies have additive manufacturing facilities, Hardwick says, “but I believe few [additive] technologies are invented here. Meld technology was invented and commercialized in Virginia.”
This homegrown quality also helps her business as tariffs affect imported metals and raw materials. “It makes more sense to use less of it” by relying on products acquired from a domestic producer, Hardwick says. Founded in 2018, Meld has about 50 employees and a spinoff company, Meld PrintWorks, which produces made-to-order parts for customers.
The New River Valley and Roanoke also benefit from their higher education institutions, including Virginia Tech, Radford University and Roanoke College. Tech’s student population keeps growing, and in October 2024, it was above 38,000 students, as well as 3,400 faculty and staff members. Radford had more than 7,600 students enrolled last fall, marking its first year-over-year growth since before the pandemic.
Both schools are heavily involved in their communities, as well as connecting businesses to students who can fill future jobs. At Virginia Tech, the Center for Advancing Partnerships is a hub for industries seeking employees and for faculty and students seeking private sector partners to bring research projects to market. Radford, meanwhile, works with local companies through its economic development and engagement department.
Although Meld tends to recruit nationwide for its more senior-level positions, “we take advantage of our relationship with neighboring community colleges and universities” for recruitment and researchbpartnerships, Hardwick says. Meld employees “span a wide spectrum. We have Ph.D.s. We have machine operators and assembly technicians.”
Research support and workforce development are especially important for companies focused on new technologies, Hardwick says, because of challenges in lead time and innovation cycles. “If you’re designing new bulkheads in aircraft, it could take one year or two years to get a prototype.”
The health care industry also continues to contribute to growth in the region, Hull says. “Medical and biotech research is burgeoning, bringing new economic activity.”
In February, GO Virginia allocated $14.3 million to support Project VITAL: Virginia Innovations and Technology Advancements in Life Sciences, an initiative that involves the Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance, Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic in establishing more research in medical devices, cancer therapies and neurotechnology in the NRV. This dovetails with similar initiatives in the Petersburg area and Charlottesville. According to Virginia Tech, Project VITAL expects to produce more than 1,300 jobs over the next five years.
In addition to biotech and medical research, Hull says that improvements to the Roanoke Blacksburg Regional Airport have helped bring in more travelers and increase local spending. Last year, the airport saw more than 756,000 passengers, hitting an all-time record.
All of this economic growth contributes to new opportunities and higher incomes, Hull says. “It come together to create a healthier, happier, more vibrant region.”
Hardwick, who started unmanned systems company Aeroprobe in 2007 in Montgomery County, calls herself “an advocate for this part of Virginia. The quality of life is definitely one of the reasons a company like mine can be successful. There’s a low cost of living, therefore a low cost of business.”
Plus, she says, “the average commute is maybe 15 minutes. It’s beautiful and people get to work with cutting-edge technology. It is an easy place to convince people they would like to live.”
Roanoke/New River valleys at a glance
The Roanoke Valley region, surrounded by the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, includes Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke counties, the cities of Covington, Roanoke and Salem and the town of Vinton. Located along its namesake river, the New River Valley includes Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties, as well as the City of Radford and the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg. The combined region is home to Virginia Tech, Hollins University, Roanoke College, Ferrum College and Radford University.
Population
Roanoke Valley1: 315,749
New River Valley2:182,041
Roanoke Valley major employers
Carilion Clinic
HCA Virginia Health System
Wells Fargo Bank
Walmart
New River Valley major employers
Virginia Tech
Volvo Trucks North America
Montgomery County School Board
Radford University
Major attractions
The largest city along the Appalachian Trail, Roanoke also offers numerous entrances to the Blue Ridge Parkway and pays tribute to the outdoors with the Anthem GO Outside Festival (Oct. 17-19). Last year, the region celebrated the 75th birthday of the neon-lit Roanoke Star. You can visit the Taubman Museum of Art or Center in the Square, which is home to museums, an aquarium
and Mill Mountain Theatre.
Also, you can catch a Salem Red Sox game or take a boat around Smith Mountain Lake. After tailgating at Virginia Tech, you can make time for an event at the Moss Arts Center or a movie at Blacksburg’s 1930s-era Lyric Theatre. FloydFest 25 takes place
July 23-27 at its new location in Check.
Top convention hotels
The Hotel Roanoke &
Conference Center
63,000 square feet of event space,
329 guest rooms
The Inn at Virginia Tech and
Skelton Conference Center
23,705 square feet of flexible meeting space, 147 guest rooms
Boutique/luxury hotels
The Liberty Trust
(Roanoke) 54 rooms
Fire Station One Boutique Hotel
(Roanoke) seven rooms
The Rowland Hotel
(Salem) 16 rooms
The Lofts at Downtown Salem
(Salem) 18 rooms
Jackson Park Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection (Pulaski) 32 rooms
The Highlander Hotel
(Radford) 124 rooms
Notable restaurants
Six & Sky Rooftop Grille
(Roanoke) Seafood, steaks
Bloom Restaurant & Wine Bar (Roanoke) Tapas, wine bar
The Palisades Restaurant
(Eggleston) Pizza, steaks
Chateau Morrisette
(Floyd) Winery, Southern cuisine
The Farmhouse
(Christiansburg) Steaks, pasta
1 Roanoke metropolitan statistical area, 2024 estimate, U.S. Census Bureau
2 Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metropolitan statistical area, 2024 estimate, U.S. Census Bureau
15,000+ near-misses reported between 2021 and 2024 in D.C. airspace.
Lawmakers push for investigations into airspace and military flight safety.
Concerns mount over FAA staffing cuts and increased flight volume at Reagan.
When Congress approved the addition of 10 extra daily flights at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington County in 2024, Northern Virginia lawmakers objected, criticizing the move as one that pitted the convenience of lawmakers looking for easy flights home against safety.
Following the Jan. 29 midair collision of an airliner and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River that killed 67 people, several of the region’s lawmakers — all Democrats — stand by their earlier assessment. They also question why more wasn’t done sooner by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board in March revealed more than 15,000 near-misses between commercial airplanes and helicopters between October 2021 and December 2024 in the congested airspace around the busy airport.
“We all probably would have been raising hell long before the accident if we’d known about that,” says U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, whose district includes the airport.
In March, the FAA permanently restricted helicopters from the January crash route, granting exceptions for presidential, lifesaving and law enforcement use. A complete NTSB report is expected to take at least a year.
U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, who were vocal opponents of flight additions in 2023, said they were happy for the restrictions, while Beyer added that he couldn’t link the addition of flights to the crash. Also in March, U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs, announced an investigation into the military’s use of airspace around the Washington region. Several people killed in the crash lived in his district, which includes Loudoun County.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which oversees air travel at Reagan and Washington Dulles International Airport, declined to comment. Congress has added more than 50 flights at Reagan since 2000, which the MWAA has strongly opposed.
Warner and Kaine have also expressed frustration with recent cuts at the FAA by President Donald Trump, citing an existing shortage of thousands of air traffic controllers. According to reports, only one controller was on duty at Reagan during the January crash. Kaine’s guest at Trump’s address to Congress in March was Jason King, an FAA safety division employee fired by Trump.
“I’m really worried about these cuts,” the senator says.
U.S. proposes steep port fees on Chinese-built ships
Overcapacity looms with Suez shift and new vessel influx
Smaller U.S. ports, carriers may be squeezed out of trade
Recent years have been rough for ocean freight forecasting. This year is no exception. Just a few months into 2025, and the market is already shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable, and consequential, in decades.
The Red Sea crisis continues, now in its 16th month, causing container vessels to route around the Horn of Africa to avoid the path of Houthi rebel fire. Under current circumstances in the region, industry analysts believe that ocean carriers may attempt a service shift back to the Suez Canal during the fourth quarter of 2025 or later, whenever the passage is deemed safe.
When the shift occurs, after a period of severe port congestion, overcapacity will follow due to increased effective capacity from the shorter Suez transit, plus record new vessel deliveries expected this year. Carriers will need to employ various strategies to balance capacity with demand, including blank sailings and re-engaging in routine vessel scrapping.
Overcapacity is not a new issue for the industry, however. Constant U.S. tariff changes and potential hefty fees on Chinese-built ships are the real game-changers facing global ocean trade. This round of tariff policy adjustments is different due to the unprecedented pace. Shippers and trade professionals are working overtime to keep up with daily and hourly changes, often duplicating work in the meantime. Shippers who may wish to consider new sourcing locations are reluctant due to the uncertainty of which origin may be tariffed next.
In addition to tariffs, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced proposed action in February aimed at targeting China’s dominance in the shipbuilding sector. The proposal includes steep fees, up to $1.5 million per port call, on Chinese-built vessels that call U.S. ports, as well as fees on ocean carriers that have Chinese-built ships in their fleet. With much of the global container vessel fleet built in China, the proposed fees will have a significant impact on U.S. ocean freight, both imports and exports.
Ocean carriers are likely to eliminate smaller U.S. port calls in favor of consolidating cargo through the largest gateways to avoid extra port call fees. This will place tremendous pressure on port and inland infrastructure, and it is likely to result in congestion levels that eclipse those seen at the height of the pandemic-era supply chain crisis.
Further, smaller ocean carriers that operate smaller vessels will not be able to compete if the proposed fees are levied and will most likely be forced out of U.S. trade lanes, reducing ocean carrier competition for U.S. shippers. Importers will certainly feel the effects of the action through increased ocean freight rates and congestion. U.S. exporters will be significantly impacted as well, with far fewer routing and ocean carrier options and increased freight rates, making their products more expensive to potential buyers overseas.
These developments have created a new level of uncertainty for U.S. companies engaged in international ocean trade. Planning efficient supply chains is virtually impossible without some degree of confidence in the trading landscape. Combined with general U.S. economic uncertainty, U.S. shippers have a complex and constantly changing environment to navigate. We always highlight the importance of forecasting well in advance to achieve the most efficient networks. This year, we know forecasting is unrealistic for many companies.
Partnership, which we also emphasize, is more critical now than ever. Having trustworthy partners who can help navigate the constant changes and obstacles is invaluable, especially in a business environment where unpredictability is now the norm.
Rachel Shames is vice president of pricing and procurement at CV International, a freight forwarder, customs broker and non-vessel-operating common carrier headquartered in Norfolk.
In 2019, the Port of Virginia embarked on a massive $450 million dredging project to both widen and deepen its shipping channel to make it the widest and deepest harbor on the East Coast.
In March 2024, the widening portion of the project was complete, opening the doors to two ultra-large container vessels to pass by at the same time, and getting rid of a major obstacle. Experts say the port has seen a difference over the past year.
In fiscal 2024, the port processed 3.5 million 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, a 2% increase over fiscal year 2023, and ship calls increased 5% to 1,733 in 2024.
“The completion of the widening is certainly a big deal,” says David White, executive director of the Virginia Maritime Association. “What it has done is removed essentially a bottleneck in our port operations.”
In the old days, two ships could pass at a time, but then vessels got larger, White explains, and the port had to restrict ships to one-way traffic. But now, they’ve gotten the port back to a place where it can have “two-way ship traffic 24/7,” he says.
These ships can carry more than 20,000 TEU cargo units. Previously, the largest ship that called at the Port of Virginia was the CMA CGM Marco Polo, with a capacity of 16,022 TEUs. It called at the port in 2021 and also broke the East Coast’s big-ship record, according to CMA CGM, a French shipping giant with its U.S. headquarters in Norfolk.
But the Port of Virginia hasn’t seen any record-setters in terms of size “in a while,” says Joe Harris, a port spokesman. Nonetheless, the port offers direct services to more than 45 countries and indirect service to more than 200 countries, with top trade partners being China, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, according to the Hampton Roads Alliance.
There are also weekly vessel calls to Asia and Europe, and last July, the port announced new last-out vessel calls for the Indian subcontinent, giving the port a direct link to India and Pakistan, which Stephen A. Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, called “an up-and-coming market and an area that holds a lot of trade potential.”
“There is a lot of interest and growing cargo volumes in this trade lane,” he said in a statement. “This is an excellent opportunity for exporters of agricultural products, like cotton and grain, to quickly get their products to this area of the world.”
Of course, the widening project has been under the watchful eye of the Coast Guard.
“Throughout this process, the Coast Guard has been focused on the safety and security of the port,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Waterways Management team at Sector Virginia said in a statement. “With the widening and deepening of the port, we no longer have to shut down the port with a one-way traffic constriction, which allows for two-way traffic with ultra-large container ships from all over the world.”
As for the deepening project’s completion, which will make the harbor 55 feet deep, that’s expected to be finished in late fall, White says. At that point, he expects the port will start to see more first-in, last-out services where container lines take fullest advantage to load deeper.
“The widening in itself hasn’t really changed much in terms of where ships are coming from or the type set of ships that we’re seeing,” White says. “With that said, we now have far more traffic related to the offshore wind project than we had used to have,” as well as more cruise ships.
Dominion Energy is about halfway through its $10.7 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm (CVOW), which will be the largest offshore wind project in the United States, producing 2.6 gigawatts of power, enough electricity for 660,000 homes. Despite a halt to federal approval of new offshore wind projects under President Donald Trump, CVOW received all of its necessary approvals before his second term began Jan. 20, so work on the project is moving full speed ahead to expected completion in 2026.
“There are some unique vessels calling Portsmouth Marine Terminal carrying cargo for the CVOW offshore wind project, and they are visible because they’re so unique looking, but their size doesn’t require any special treatment,” Harris says.
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