The Port of Richmond might be losing one of its last remaining customers.
The local maritime community is anticipating an announcement that Iceland-based shipping company Eimskip will pull out of the Port of Richmond in favor of Hampton Roads.
David McNeel, executive director of the Port of Richmond, said Eimskip has said it is weighing a move to Hampton Roads but has yet to announce any concrete details.
“They said they were considering it,” said McNeel, who hopes to know something for sure by Feb. 1. “Our rates are lot cheaper here than they are in Hampton Roads. But big ports have a lot to offer. It’s just a business decision that Eimskip will have to make.”
Chick Rosemond, vice president of sales for locally-based Wyatt Transfer, confirmed that a move could be imminent. He said he just wants to know one way or another, if and when Eimskip will make its move, so things won’t continue to be up in the air.
“This needs to get moving,” said Rosemond. “I have not gotten an official announcement. I have encouraged my friends at Eimskip to make an official announcement.”
Several calls to Eimskip’s Hampton Roads office were not returned by press time.
Losing another customer isn’t the best news for a small port that has struggled financially in recent times.
Eimskip is one of the Richmond port’s two remaining customers, along with the James River Barge Line. And it has been about two years since port’s largest customer, Independent Container Line, left Richmond for Wilmington. Read a BizSense report from February 2009 on ICL’s pullout. (You can read more about that in an RBS story here.)
“We don’t need to lose any of our business,” McNeel said.
Eimskip, which has been calling at the Richmond port for about three years, handles about 250 containers a month at the Richmond port, McNeel said. It currently brings in one ship a month to transport export goods such as cars, RVs and apples. It used to bring in two ships a month.
The possible Eimskip departure comes as future control of the port is up in the air.
Negotiations are ongoing by which the Virginia Port Authority could take control of the small city-owned port.
Such a move could help soften the blow should Eimskip skip town. The Virginia Port Authority, which has considerable clout in the shipping world, could take over operations and use its influence to bring more traffic to Richmond.
“VPA is a big port — a state port,” McNeel said. “They have a lot of connections in the industry. That’s always a plus.”
Ideally, a VPA takeover would bring some of its financial backing to Richmond’s port to make improvement that might draw new business, McNeel said.
“I think it’s time the city looks at something like this,” McNeel said.
Rosemond also supports a VPA takeover and believes the Port of Richmond has potential to be marketed and leased as an extension of the much larger Port of Virginia.
“With the marketing reach of the Port of Virginia, they will find customers interested in having the space, which there’s a lot of at the Port of Richmond,” Rosemond said.
“We need to keep the waterway open and we need to keep the port open.”
Michael Schwartz is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to [email protected].
The Port of Richmond might be losing one of its last remaining customers.
The local maritime community is anticipating an announcement that Iceland-based shipping company Eimskip will pull out of the Port of Richmond in favor of Hampton Roads.
David McNeel, executive director of the Port of Richmond, said Eimskip has said it is weighing a move to Hampton Roads but has yet to announce any concrete details.
“They said they were considering it,” said McNeel, who hopes to know something for sure by Feb. 1. “Our rates are lot cheaper here than they are in Hampton Roads. But big ports have a lot to offer. It’s just a business decision that Eimskip will have to make.”
Chick Rosemond, vice president of sales for locally-based Wyatt Transfer, confirmed that a move could be imminent. He said he just wants to know one way or another, if and when Eimskip will make its move, so things won’t continue to be up in the air.
“This needs to get moving,” said Rosemond. “I have not gotten an official announcement. I have encouraged my friends at Eimskip to make an official announcement.”
Several calls to Eimskip’s Hampton Roads office were not returned by press time.
Losing another customer isn’t the best news for a small port that has struggled financially in recent times.
Eimskip is one of the Richmond port’s two remaining customers, along with the James River Barge Line. And it has been about two years since port’s largest customer, Independent Container Line, left Richmond for Wilmington. Read a BizSense report from February 2009 on ICL’s pullout. (You can read more about that in an RBS story here.)
“We don’t need to lose any of our business,” McNeel said.
Eimskip, which has been calling at the Richmond port for about three years, handles about 250 containers a month at the Richmond port, McNeel said. It currently brings in one ship a month to transport export goods such as cars, RVs and apples. It used to bring in two ships a month.
The possible Eimskip departure comes as future control of the port is up in the air.
Negotiations are ongoing by which the Virginia Port Authority could take control of the small city-owned port.
Such a move could help soften the blow should Eimskip skip town. The Virginia Port Authority, which has considerable clout in the shipping world, could take over operations and use its influence to bring more traffic to Richmond.
“VPA is a big port — a state port,” McNeel said. “They have a lot of connections in the industry. That’s always a plus.”
Ideally, a VPA takeover would bring some of its financial backing to Richmond’s port to make improvement that might draw new business, McNeel said.
“I think it’s time the city looks at something like this,” McNeel said.
Rosemond also supports a VPA takeover and believes the Port of Richmond has potential to be marketed and leased as an extension of the much larger Port of Virginia.
“With the marketing reach of the Port of Virginia, they will find customers interested in having the space, which there’s a lot of at the Port of Richmond,” Rosemond said.
“We need to keep the waterway open and we need to keep the port open.”
Michael Schwartz is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to [email protected].
It’s a natural for the Virginia Port Authority to run the Port of Richmond and promote it as part of a single entity.