Dredge work on Thimble Shoal Channel, Norfolk Harbor finished in late February
March 18, 2026
NORFOLK, VA – Construction of the 55-foot deep shipping channel and harbor, a key project in The Port of Virginia’s® $1.4 billion Gateway Investment Program, is complete making Virginia home to the deepest port on the U.S. East Coast.
“Completion of this project positions The Port of Virginia as a national leader in US port infrastructure development and will help drive the Virginia economy,” said Sarah J. McCoy, interim executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “In order to be America’s Most Modern Gateway®, you have to offer modern infrastructure, and with a restriction-free channel that is capable of easily handling the biggest ships in the Atlantic trade, we are.”
The channel dredging was completed Feb. 28, and the post-dredge survey to confirm the channel’s depth and width, along with additional maintenance work, is underway. Once the expanded and deepened channel has been mapped and its depths verified, the maritime charts will be updated to reflect the increased capacity. All work is schedule for completion in late spring.
The dredging project also included widening areas of the channel, which allows for two-way traffic of ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs); the widening project was completed in Feb. 2024.
Preparing for the Future
McCoy said the port’s assets — modern terminals, twenty-first century cargo conveyance systems, on-dock, double-stack rail, overall growing efficiency and expanding berth capacity for ULCVs –combined with deep, wide channels position the port for the future.
“Delivering projects like the 55-foot channel are important today, but the real value is in how these projects position us for the future,” McCoy said. “With all of our foundational elements in place, we are assuring our customers and port users that they will be able to expand their operations and cargo volumes at The Port of Virginia without concern for outgrowing our capabilities. We’re prepared today for the demands of the next five, ten or fifteen years.”
Gateway Investment Program
The dredging project is a foundational element of the Gateway Investment Program, a capital construction campaign that started in 2023. The program’s projects are:
- $450M: Deepening the channel/harbor and widening it to ensure safe, two-way ULCV passage – dredge work is complete
- $83M: Expanding the port’s annual rail capacity to 2 million TEUs – fully operational
- $220M: Converting Portsmouth Marine Terminal, a legacy container terminal, into a deep-water heavy-lift facility – fully operational
- $650M: Renovating and reconfiguring the North Berth at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) – construction is past the half-way mark with completion scheduled for mid-2027
Growing Capabilities
In addition to completion of the dredge work, the port in February brought a fourth ULCV berth into operation. At the South Berth of NIT, the port deepened the berths and in January put four new Suez-class cranes into service. The new cranes give the port two ULCV berths at both NIT South and Virginia International Gateway.
A fifth ULCV berth is being developed at NIT’s North Berth and is scheduled to be in operation in 2027. When the North Berth project is complete, the port will have the capacity to process 5.8M TEUs annually.
Collective Effort
“It is important to understand that this [dredging] project has been a group effort supported by many important users of the Norfolk Harbor,” McCoy said. “The widening and deepening of the channel was supported by governors, both past and present, elected officials on both the state and federal levels, the U.S. Navy, the Virginia Maritime Association and a number of shipping and ship repair interests in the harbor.
“It’s especially important to recognize our primary partner in this project, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District. For years that team worked with us, on a nearly a daily basis, to see this project through and we are grateful.”
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The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VPA owns and through its private operating subsidiary, Virginia International Terminals, LLC (VIT), operates four general cargo facilities Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port in Warren County. The VPA leases Virginia International Gateway and Richmond Marine Terminal. An economic impact study from The College of William and Mary shows that The Port of Virginia is a driver of more than 565,000 jobs and $63 billion in Virginia gross domestic product on an annual basis.