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A new, multiple-use, deepwater port to serve limited-schedule, heavy-lift, unusual and break-bulk cargo – an underserved segment of the southeastern Virginia shipping market – is being developed in phases.

Fifty-acre Peck Marine Terminal will be part of the second-busiest port on the east coast of the United States, within 750 miles – a two-day truck drive – of two-thirds of the country’s population. Located in Chesapeake, south of Norfolk, on the Elizabeth River’s southern branch, it will have a depth of 40 feet, easy truck access to Interstate 464, a half-mile away; and a spur leading to two railroad lines (Norfolk Southern and CSX), says General Manager Joshua Peck of Richmond, Virginia.

The location in the heart of Hampton Roads’ working waterfront, and the infrastructure make flexibility one of the terminal’s main assets to shippers, Mr. Peck maintains.

The upgraded pier itself will represent an investment of more than $3 million.

The 40-acre backup, or lay-down area has the potential for refrigeration, warehousing, containers, silos or other industrial facilities. The property has a high-voltage substation, sewerage, potable water, firefighting facilities and security apparatus.

The port’s anchor tenant is Oceaneering International Inc., a Houston-based advanced applied technology company that provides engineering services and hardware to customers who work in marine, space and other harsh environments.

“We believe there is a niche for a small, intermodal marine terminal with a 40-foot draft,” says Mr. Peck. Lambert’s Point in Norfolk also handles small, noncontainer loads, but while that facility is 80 percent larger, the water is only 32 feet deep – too shallow for many vessels. “The region has a variety of shippers with many different needs,” he explains.

“Timing is the key here,” says David F. Host, president and CEO of T. Parker Host Inc., ship agents and brokers based in Norfolk. “Waterfront land is running out. The ports’ break-bulk facilities are being turned into container terminals. This leaves the Peck property as one of the few remaining sites that has the flexibility to handle the customers that see value in a somewhat exclusive site where they make a difference and have some control of their destiny – and not be thrown into a bullpen.”

The site’s potential “has not been met yet,” says Mr. Host, "because the people who visited the site (before now) saw it as too far off into the future and needed more immediate solutions.”

Break-bulk, heavy-lift cargoes and small container ships are what Mr. Host sees benefiting most from Peck Marine Terminal’s 55 acres of land. “If a company wanted to build a refrigerated warehouse to process poultry and package it for export then this would be an excellent site to do this – and load out break-bulk boxes of frozen poultry in refrigerated ships. Silos for trucking in wood pallets and conveyor loading are other good uses, he says.

Ships in need of repair or layberth for any reason would benefit from the docking facility. So could barge lines.

“The opportunities are endless,” says Mr. Host.

This should attract shippers with bulk materials, such as construction materials that don’t lend themselves to container shipping yet need the transportation infrastructure that other cargoes require. "We will not be competition for anybody; we will fill a need that has not been filled up to now,” says Mr. Peck.

“We have had discussions already with commercial and public-sector entities,” he says. “They include container lines that require specialized scheduling with barge lines, tug lines, a wood-products company and others. On the government side, we have met with representatives of the military and the U.S. Maritime Administration about their using the facility on a contingency basis.”

Art Moye, executive vice president of the Virginia Maritime Association, agrees, saying “there is always room for niche cargoes. This should augment what the existing terminal operators have.”

As part of the port known around the worlds as Hampton Roads, which has a 400-year tradition of shipping and today is called on by 95 percent of the world’s shipping lines, Mr. Host says about 50 shipping lines with container and break-bulk ships call on Hampton Roads on a regular basis at Virginia Port Authority terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News. Six others call at Lambert’s Point and three more call at private terminals. There are 1,000 more bulk ships calling at various terminals throughout the local port.

Peck Marine Terminal is close to the huge network of businesses that support the maritime industry.

Environmentally, the property and adjacent water have been declared a “no further action” area by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, meaning everything necessary to make the area environmentally sound has been accomplished.