Virginia International Gateway (VIG)

Virginia International Gateway (VIG) is a privately owned marine container terminal located along the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, Virginia. Commissioned in July 2007, VIG is the largest privately-owned container terminal in the United States. In July 2010, the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) and APM Terminals entered into a 20-year lease agreement. In 2014, Alinda Capital Partners purchased the terminal from APMT, renaming it Virginia International Gateway.  Alinda and the VPA signed a 49-year lease in 2016, under which the VPA is now operating the terminal.

VIG is the first of the port’s functional semi-automated container terminals. The facility is a U.S. Customs-designated port of entry, and the full range of Customs functions is available to customers. VIG sits on a total footprint of 576 acres.

In 2019, The Port of Virginia completed a three-year, $312 million investment that reimagined and re-engineered the terminal. The project doubled VIG’s container and rail capacity to 1.2 million units and 480,000 lifts respectively.  VIG extended its berth to accommodate up to three Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) and incorporated the port’s own Trucker Reservation System — called PRO-PASS® — for motor carriers that is dramatically increasing productivity at the gates.  The project earned Lloyd’s List “Excellence in Port Management and Infrastructure Award” (2019).

With access via a 50-foot navigation channel, VIG is designed to serve ULCVs.  The container wharf provides 4,000-feet of effective berth capacity, currently able to accommodate three ULCVs simultaneously. The terminal is equipped with a fleet of 12 super post-Panamax cranes, capable of handling the largest container vessels.

The container yard consists of 28 semi-automated stacks, served by 56 rail mounted gantry (RMG) cranes.  These stacks can easily process more than 3,500 truck transactions per day.  The terminal also offers more than 1,200 reefer plugs for customers moving chilled and frozen cargoes.

VIG has direct interchange to the interstate highway system, and Class I double-stack intermodal service with Norfolk Southern and CSX, via Commonwealth Railway. The on-dock yard offers nearly 20,000 linear feet of rail track.

The terminal design is unique in that many of VIG’s operations are performed remotely, from a centralized terminal operations building, promoting efficiency, accuracy, and employee safety.

VIG is located just off Virginia State Route 164W in Portsmouth, with easy access to Interstates 664, US Route 17 and US Route 58.

AMENDED AND RESTATED DEED OF FACILITIES LEASE AGREEMENT by and between VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL GATEWAY, INC. and VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY – Dated as of September 21, 2016

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