Port agency, union working to establish barge service

Norfolk

High union labor rates are stalling the launch of a barge service between the port of Hampton Roads' cargo container terminals, an effort that could trim several hundred truck trips a week off area roads, a port official said this week.

"I would do it tomorrow, but the cost is all on the labor side," said Joseph A. Dorto, the chief executive officer of Virginia International Terminals Inc., the Virginia Port Authority's operating company.

For years, the idea of running a barge laden with international shipping containers between marine terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News has been discussed.

The plan has taken on increased urgency, however, after Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said in August that traffic jams have reached a "crisis proportion" on Hampton Boulevard, the roadway running past the authority's largest terminal. The City Council subsequently voted to ban big rigs from 4 p.m. to

6 a.m. on much of that road, forcing truckers to alter schedules or take longer routes. City leaders have said future action may also be taken.

In January, Jerry A. Bridges, the Port Authority's executive director, said the barges would likely be in service around June. On Wednesday, Bridges amended his timetable, saying he now hope s they will be operating by January.

"We're very optimistic that this system will be put in place," he said.

Edward L. Brown Sr., the top Hampton Roads official of the International Longshoremen's Association, said this week that an agreement in principle on the service had been reached but that other issues remain. He would not elaborate.

"We are still talking - both parties are still discussing all the features of it," Brown said. The association, known as the ILA, represents dockworkers.

Brown said he was confident negotiations would reach a "satisfactory" conclusion.

Dorto said VIT and the authority have been meeting "continuously" with the ILA and that the next move is up to the union. He said the union needs to embrace an "out-of-the-box" solution, such as using new union members to work the barges and starting them off at a lower-than-usual wage. The service would create at least 15 new ILA jobs, he said.

"It really is going to take them sitting down and coming up with a plan and making some concessions on cost in order to put it into operation," Dorto said of the ILA.

The barge service would necessitate handling the containers twice as much as loading them on trucks, said Dorto, who declined to discuss financial specifics of the proposed venture.

Longshoremen typically are paid a base rate of between $16 and $30 an hour, depending upon years of service, said Roger J. Giesinger, president of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association, which is representing VIT and stevedoring companies in the barge labor talks.

Dorto said the service may operate between some or all of the Port Authority's terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News, and APM Terminals' Portsmouth operation. The venture might start out running once a week and increase from there, he said.

Having the barge service could cut 200 to 300 truck trips a week off Hampton Boulevard and other local roads, Dorto said. That will still leave plenty of business for local trucking companies, but it would help improve the flow of traffic while curbing air emissions, he said.

Another local barge service is also in the planning stages: the James River Barge Line between Hampton Roads and Richmond. David F. Host, president of Norfolk's T. Parker Host Inc., the company behind that venture, said he's still working with the ILA on his rates.

Gregory Richards, (757) 446-2599, gregory.richards@pilotonline.com