The Port of Virginia's strategic mid-Atlantic location and streamlined transportation infrastructure are well known among shippers the world over. The natural advantages offered by Virginia's Port has historically served as a magnet for investment, attracting new industries and commerce within the state. Today, more than 95% of the world's largest shipping lines link Virginia's sheltered ice-free harbor to destinations around the globe. Hampton Roads encompasses 25 square miles of easily accessible waterways and is located just 18 miles from the open sea, offering ships carrying the heaviest cargoes the ease of steaming in and out of 50-foot deep obstruction-free channels.

In addition to the advantages offered by easy access to the open sea, the Port of Virginia is served by one of the nation's more efficient inland transportation networks. Cargo is transported with speed and efficiency by 30 miles of on-dock rail. Over 130 trucking companies and two of the nation's largest railroads, CSX and Norfolk Southern, enable the Port of Virginia to serve two-thirds of the U.S. population within 24 hours.

The Port of Virginia consistently ranks as one of the leading ports in the United States in terms of total foreign waterborne commerce. In terms of general cargo (containerized and break bulk cargo), our port is the second largest port on the U.S. East Coast, just behind New York/New Jersey. Between 1982 and 2001, general cargo tonnage at Virginia's state-owned ports increased from 2.5 million tons in 1982 to 11.5 million tons in 2001, an unmatched growth record among U.S. ports. In terms of total cargo (which includes container, break bulk and bulk cargo), the Port handled over 37 million short tons.

Many factors have contributed to the Port's phenomenal growth, but none is as important as unification of the ports in the Hampton Roads harbor. In 1981, the Virginia General Assembly passed landmark legislation designed to unify the ports under a single agency, the Virginia Port Authority, with a new single operating company, Virginia International Terminals, Inc. In the years preceding unification, ports in the Hampton Roads harbor were privately operated by competing companies, which caused sporadic, sustained growth and splintered marketing efforts. Unification has made the Port of Virginia the fastest growing port complex in the United States.