Port Authority projects $61M bump in revenue

NORFOLK

The addition of APM Terminals' Portsmouth facility is expected to contribute $61.4 million in revenue this fiscal year to Virginia International Terminals Inc., the Virginia Port Authority's operating unit.

According to a revised budget approved Tuesday by the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners, VIT's revenue is expected to rise to $279.3 million for the fiscal year that began July 1, a 28.2 percent increase from the original budget's $217.9 million.

The increase is based on a projected 27.2 percent increase in container volume "as a result of the addition of the APMT-Virginia facility." The Port Authority will again be handling the Maersk and Evergreen shipping lines and their related volume.

The combined operating revenue for the Port Authority and VIT dipped 1.2 percent to $183.6 million in the 11 months ended May 31, compared with the same period a year earlier. They also show an operating loss of $9 million in the same period.

Those results reflect a 1.6 percent decline in the volume of 20-foot cargo containers handled during the fiscal year ended June 30.

"The first half of the fiscal year was pretty rough," said Russell Held, the authority's deputy executive director for development.

Container traffic has been trending upward since the first of the year. The port handled 935,764 units January-to-June, a 12.5 percent increase from the first six months of 2009.

The assimilation of APM Terminals into the operations of the Virginia Port Authority will take place gradually, port officials said, with full integration likely to take until next spring.

"This is a transition year," said John G. Milliken, chairman of the authority's board, after the meeting.

The process of moving all of the container traffic at Portsmouth Marine Terminal to APM isn't expected to be complete until April or May, he said.

Two cranes are on order for the APM facility and expected to arrive in January.

In other business Tuesday, the Port Authority's board approved $75,000 in performance incentive pay for Jerry Bridges, the authority's executive director, for the year ended June 30.

Bridges' annual base salary of $301,600 includes potential incentive compensation of $90,480, pegged to the achievement of certain performance benchmarks.