The ports and waterways form the economic backbone of Hampton Roads, the world's largest natural harbor. Just 18 miles from open sea at the confluence of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, the harbor boasts a 50-foot (15.24-m.) channel depth that allows the world's largest steamships to dock.
      Owned and operated by the Virginia Port Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the general cargo terminals in the Hampton Roads harbor formerly existed as separate and competing ports. But in 1982, by mandate of the Virginia General Assembly, the ports were unified under the direction of the Virginia Port Authority and its non-stock, non-profit operating affiliate, Virginia International Terminals Inc. Seven years later, the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal was added as a fourth port facility.
      Today, there is no doubting what drives Virginia's international commerce: the Port of Virginia. The marine terminals at Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth account for a combined 1,170 acres (474 ha.) and more than 150,000 feet (45,720 m.) of on-site rail. The port links Virginia to more than 250 ports in more than 100 overseas locations and is the second largest volume port on the U.S. East Coast in terms of general cargo (breakbulk and containerized cargo).
      General cargo moving through the Port of Virginia has increased by more than 300 percent in the last 12 years -- the highest volume growth of any U.S. port. General cargo tonnage at the marine terminals in Hampton Roads has increased from 558,176 tons in 1993 to 975,070 tons in 2000.
      A recent study conducted by Martin Associates in Lancaster, Pa., revealed that 164,000 Virginians work in either port or port-related jobs, earning an estimated $584 million a year in wages. Each year, those jobs return more than $60 million to Virginia in the form of state and local tax revenues.
      The Port of Virginia maintains that "the ability to adopt advanced supply-management techniques is a strong selling point for doing business in Virginia and the United States." Corporate executives currently doing business in the Old Dominion would agree.
      Manufacturers across Virginia are adopting more advanced supply-chain management strategies, says Jeff Kehoe, executive director of the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership. As manufacturers develop their global supply networks and move to streamline their internal production schedules, the ports play a vital role in getting the output to global markets.
      "If you're not getting better every week, every day, someone will take your customers away from you," says Kehoe.
      Recognizing the new global economy, the Port of Virginia is not standing pat. The Virginia Port Authority's capital improvement plan calls for spending more than $500 million over the next 20 years for channel dredging, wharf repair, upgrading of obsolete equipment and expanding the existing Norfolk International Terminals (NIT).
      The NIT facility is projected to reach full capacity by 2008. To make sure that doesn't happen, the VPA plans to develop a new container terminal on a proposed eastward expansion of the existing Craney Island dredge material management area in Portsmouth. Building phase one of this cargo facility will cost $860 million. Following the initial development of 220 acres (89 ha.), the new terminal could be expanded to an ultimate size of 600 acres (243 ha.). The new terminal would connect to the proposed Third Crossing, as well as a new rail corridor project for double-stack trains (a project estimated to cost $115 million).