Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

NYK president: Hampton Roads "struggled" to deal with New York/New Jersey overflow in 2013

Bill Payne, the president of ocean carrier NYK North America, called out the port at Hampton Roads for not being ready when congestion hit ports nationwide last year.

Payne told approximately 2,000 maritime executives at a conference on TransPacific trade that in 2013 when a cargo bottleneck became severe at the Port of New York/New Jersey, he was surprised that the Hampton Roads port struggled to handle the overflow containers rerouted to Norfolk.

"There have been some surprising examples of ports that you would have thought would have been more prepared – already had deep water, already had on-dock rail," Payne said. "I think we had a right to believe Norfolk was prepared – let me just say that. And it's proven a struggle for them. So, I think they're attempting to respond, but again, when you start chasing the curve and dealing with volume and you're behind that power curve, it gets very difficult to clear it out."

After his talk, Payne told The Virginia Pilot that port executives at Hampton Roads recognized "that this hasn't been their best hour; they're working on it."

Payne said his company supports Hampton Roads and its new leadership.

For more of The Virginia Pilot story: hamptonroads.com