Vessels of Taiwan-Based Carrier’s AA7 Service Will Call at NIT’s North Berth
NORFOLK, VA — Today’s arrival of the Wan Hai 625 at The Port of Virginia® is the latest addition to the port’s expanding Asia trade portfolio. The new service, called the AA7, links Virginia with several important Asian ports via the Suez Canal.
“Our connections to Asian markets keeps growing and this is good for trade because we are providing cargo owners and shippers multiple options for moving their cargo to and from some very important markets,” said Stephen A. Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “There is growing interest in doing business here because of our reach into the nation’s heartland, our efficiency and the investment we’re making to expand our overall capabilities and capacity. We were happy to work with the Wan Hai team and are ready for a long and collaborative relationship.”
Edwards, along with members of the port’s sales and ocean carrier teams, on Tuesday (May 3) welcomed Tenny Hsieh, president of Wan Hai Lines, and a group of executives from the ship line. Edwards presented Hsieh and the Wan Hai delegation a plaque marking the maiden voyage of the Wan Hai 625 to Norfolk International Terminals’ North Berth. The weekly service will employ vessels with an average size of 6,500 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs). The port call rotation is: Ningbo – Taipei – Xiamen – Shekou — Cai Mep — Port Klang — New York — The Port of Virginia – Savannah.
Edwards said this is an important opportunity to introduce more cargo owners and logistics companies to The Port of Virginia.
“The present-day efficiencies here that are driven by a diverse, ultra-modern port complex that has an expansive reach into the Midwest,” Edwards said. “But some cargo owners and shippers may not realize is that we are investing $1.3 billion between now and 2025 to create more rail capacity, modernize and renovate two of our berths and convert them to an RMG operation (rail-mounted gantry), dredge our channels to 55 feet deep and widen them for two-way traffic of ultra-large container vessels. The Port of Virginia is building capacity for decades to come.”
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