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43-654: The Port of Richmond , also known as the Richmond Deepwater Terminal and the Richmond Marine Terminal , is located on the James River in Richmond , Virginia , United States, 100 miles (160 km) inland from Cape Henry and approximately 78 miles (126 km) northwest of Newport News, Virginia . It is located at 77° 25' west latitude and 37° 27' north longitude, lies adjacent to Interstate 95 , and

86-475: A direct connection with the port there. Operations in the tunnel ceased in 1902 after completion of a new, more direct, viaduct. In 1925, it collapsed and was sealed off. The port's facilities at its current location were built in 1940. The port was built on land that was at one time part of the unincorporated town and port of Warwick, which was burned by the British in 1781. Owned by the city of Richmond, Virginia, it

129-580: A large portion of the National Defense Reserve Fleet , called the "James River fleet" or the "ghost fleet", consisting of " mothballed " ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises. The fleet is managed by the U.S. Department of Transportation 's Maritime Administration and

172-407: A legal standpoint, multimodal transport creates several problems. Unimodal transports are currently governed by different, often-mandatory international conventions . These conventions stipulate different bases for liability , and different limitations of liability for the carrier. As of 2011, the solution to this problem has been the so-called network principle . According to the network principle,

215-458: A prime location to export coal . To support this, the company built a tunnel under Church Hill , and operations began to the port in 1873. However, changing shipping technologies meant that larger ships were more economical, and the failure to materialize of a proposed James River dredging project caused the owner of the C&;O, Collis Huntington , to extend the tracks 74 miles west to Newport News for

258-493: A sea vessel (even though the transport includes a sea leg) are referred to as Non-Vessel Operating Carriers ( NVOC ) in common law countries (especially the United States). Multimodal transport developed in connection with the "container revolution" of the 1960s and 1970s; as of 2011, containerized transports are by far the most important multimodal consignments . However, it is important to remember that multimodal transport

301-506: A survey identified 175 sturgeon remaining in the entire river, with 15 specimens exceeding 5 feet (1.5 m). Due to its potential for generating mechanical power for rotating machinery such as grist mills, hydroelectric power, and as a water route for trade, many dams have been built across the James River since the time of European settlement of the region. While most of these dams have been removed or failed, several dams still exist along

344-610: Is 4 miles (6 km) south of downtown Richmond . Richmond is the western terminus for commercial navigation on the James River, due to the Fall Line . The port is operated and leased by the Virginia Port Authority . Richmond had an extensive history as a port city; the city formed at its current location as the Fall Line prevents further navigation up the James River. The Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railway saw Richmond as

387-589: Is based in Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is a different entity from the United States Navy reserve fleets , which consist largely of warships. Multimodal transport Article 1.1. of the United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods (Geneva, 24 May 1980) (which will only enter into force 12 months after 30 countries ratify; as of May 2019, only 6 countries have ratified

430-435: Is not equivalent to container transport; multimodal transport is feasible without any form of container. The MTO works on behalf of the supplier; it assures the supplier (and the buyer) that their goods will be effectively managed and supplied. Multimodal transport research is being conducted across a wide range of government, commercial and academic centers. The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) within

473-643: Is one of only a few municipality-owned ports on the Eastern Seaboard . After a city task force concluded that the port was a vital asset, the Port of Richmond Commission was created in 1982 to run it. It continues to serve Chester, Pennsylvania , Liverpool , England and Antwerp , Belgium, and added service to Wilmington, North Carolina . Eimskip , Iceland's biggest transportation company, began service in November 2006 and ended service in 2011. The 2008 recession hit

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516-544: Is the last bridge east of the Deepwater Port of Richmond and head of ocean-going navigation at the fall line of the James River. West of this point, potential flooding is more of an engineering concern than clearance for watercraft. The following is a list of extant highway bridges across the James River with one or both ends within the City of Richmond. The following is a partial, incomplete list of extant highway bridges across

559-470: The Chesapeake Bay . This ban remained in effect for 13 years, until efforts to clean up the river began to show results. A decade of accumulated silt, lying above the contaminated riverbed, helped to reduce levels of the chemical. Since the 1970s, the health of the James River has improved substantially. The Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983, signed by the governors of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania,

602-651: The Cowpasture and Jackson rivers in the Appalachian Mountains . It flows into the Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads . Tidal waters extend west to Richmond at the river's fall line (the head of navigation ). Larger tributaries draining to the tidal portion include the Appomattox River , Chickahominy River , Warwick River , Pagan River , and the Nansemond River . At its mouth near Newport News Point,

645-903: The Elizabeth River and the Nansemond River join the James River to form the harbor area known as Hampton Roads . Between the tip of the Virginia Peninsula near Old Point Comfort and the Willoughby Spit area of Norfolk in South Hampton Roads , a channel leads from Hampton Roads into the southern portion of the Chesapeake Bay and out to the Atlantic Ocean a few miles further east. Many boats pass through this river to import and export Virginia products. The James River contains many parks and other recreational attractions. Canoeing, fishing, kayaking, hiking, and swimming are some of

688-571: The Jackson River is included, the longer of its two headwaters, it is the longest river in Virginia. Jamestown and Williamsburg , Virginia's first colonial capitals, and Richmond , Virginia's current capital, lie on the James River. The Native Americans who populated the area east of the Fall Line in the late 16th and early 17th centuries called the James River the Powhatan River , named for

731-608: The Powhatans who occupied the area. The Jamestown colonists who arrived in 1607 named it "James" after King James I of England as they constructed the first permanent English settlement in the Americas along the banks of the river about 35 miles (56 km) upstream from the Chesapeake Bay . The navigable portion of the river was the major highway of colonial Virginia during its first 15 years, facilitating supply ships delivering supplies and more emigrants from England. However, for

774-485: The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) chairs an inter-agency Research, Development and Technology (RD&T) Planning Team. The University Transportation Center (UTC) program, which consists of more than 100 universities nationwide conducts multi-modal research and education programs. The European Commission has invested heavily in multimodal research under the H2020 programme – examples are CORE and SYNCHRO-NET. From

817-491: The mid-Atlantic region . It handles containers, breakbulk, bulk, neo-bulk and livestock cargo. The port has container and general cargo facilities on the James River and is part of a supply-chain network of over 600 warehouses. Major port cargo include tobacco, tobacco products, textiles, newsprint, wastepaper, chemicals, steel, steel products, phosphates, forest products, machinery, project cargo, refractory, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, aplite and livestock. The facility has

860-591: The James River estuary downstream of the Allied Signal Company and LifeSciences Product Company plants in Hopewell, Virginia . Because of the pollution, sections of the river were considered "dead" and unfit for human use, and many businesses and restaurants along the river suffered economic losses. In December 1975 Virginia Governor Mills Godwin Jr. shut down the James River to fishing for 100 miles, from Richmond to

903-587: The James River west of Richmond. The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel prohibits bicycles, but bicyclists may take the Jamestown Ferry . After a fatal accident on the Boulevard Bridge , the City of Richmond requires bicycles to travel on the sidewalk for the length of the bridge. The James River Reserve Fleet is the anchorage ( 37°07′13″N 76°38′47″W  /  37.120393°N 76.646469°W  / 37.120393; -76.646469 ) for

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946-452: The James has improved to a B with a score of 66% from its failing health decades ago." The James River drains a catchment comprising 10,432 square miles (27,020 km ). The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million people (2000). The James River forms near Iron Gate on the border between Alleghany and Botetourt counties, from the confluence of

989-509: The Port of Virginia. A trip up the river is about 100 miles and takes about 12 hours. The Virginia Port Authority, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth, entered into a 5-year lease on the facility in 2010. In early 2018, they signed a 40-year lease and used federal grant money to buy a new harbor crane, allowing for faster unloading of cargo from ships. They have invested millions into the port, allowing for an increase in volume. In 2018,

1032-576: The activities that people enjoy along the river during the summer. From the river's start in the Blue Ridge Mountains to Richmond , numerous rapids and pools offer fishing and whitewater rafting. The most intense whitewater stretch is a 2-mile (3 km) segment that ends in downtown Richmond where the river goes over the fall line . This is the only place in the country where extensive class III (class IV with above average river levels) whitewater conditions exist within sight of skyscrapers. Below

1075-452: The canal could be fully completed, in the mid-19th century, railroads emerged as a more practical technology and eclipsed canals for economical transportation, ending the canal's progress at Eagle Rock . The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was completed between Richmond and the Ohio River at the new city of Huntington, West Virginia by 1873, dooming the canal's economic prospects. In

1118-481: The capacity to handle fifty to sixty thousand TEUs (Twenty-foot [container] Equivalent Units). Much of the port's cargo comes via barge from the Port of Virginia, which uses it and the Virginia Inland Port as a way to handle excess cargo at coastal facilities. Because of the barge service, many companies, including Lidl , Brother , Bissell , and LL Flooring , were able to open up distribution facilities near

1161-464: The capital of the colony at Jamestown. Navigation of the James River played an important role in early Virginia commerce and in the settlement of the interior, although growth of the colony was primarily in the Tidewater region during the first 75 years. The upper reaches of the river above the head of navigation at the fall line were explored by fur-trading parties sent out by Abraham Wood during

1204-465: The fall line east of Richmond, the river is better suited for water skiing and other large boat recreation. Here the river is known for its blue catfish , reaching average sizes of 20 to 30 pounds (9.1 to 13.6 kg), with frequent catches exceeding 50 pounds (23 kg). In the Chesapeake watershed, the James River is the last confirmed holdout for the nearly extirpated Atlantic sturgeon . In May 2007

1247-492: The first five years, despite hopes of discovering gold ores, these ships sent little of monetary value back to the sponsors. In 1612, businessman John Rolfe successfully cultivated a non-native strain of tobacco which proved popular in England. Soon, the river became the primary means of exporting the large hogsheads of this cash crop from an ever-growing number of plantations with wharfs along its banks. This development made

1290-442: The gate, add a secured drop-lot for truckers to drop their loads at night, and add improved lighting to allow barges to unload later into the night, which will improve cargo-handling speed. Starting in 2024, the port has used clean electricity to power all its vehicles and operations. The Port of Richmond is a domestic and international multi-modal freight and distribution center serving waterborne, rail and truck shippers throughout

1333-515: The highly angled path the dam takes across the river. While not identified in the National Inventory of Dams, a very low head weir structure is found below Bosher Dam in Richmond on either side of Williams Island. Known as the "Z-Dam" for its zigzag course on the south side of the island, the current structure was built in 1932 and serves to direct water into Richmond's water treatment facility on

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1376-480: The late 17th century. Although ocean-going ships were unable to navigate beyond present-day Richmond, portage of products and navigation with smaller craft to transport crops other than tobacco was feasible. Produce from the Piedmont and Great Valley regions descended the river to seaports at Richmond and Manchester through such port towns as Lynchburg , Scottsville , Columbia and Buchanan . The James River

1419-431: The late-19th century, the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was laid along the eastern portion of the canal's towpath, and became part of the C&O within 10 years. In modern times, this rail line is used primarily in transporting West Virginia coal to export coal piers at Newport News . During the 1960s and 1970s, mishandling and dumping of the insecticide Kepone resulted in the contamination of large stretches of

1462-620: The mayor of the District of Columbia, and the EPA, established baseline environmental protections and promoted regional cooperation conducive to river clean-up. This original agreement has evolved as the Chesapeake Bay Program . The James River Association (JRA), founded in 1976, began publishing State of the James reports in 2016. In their 2023 report, JRA concluded that the "overall grade of the State of

1505-521: The north bank. The less than 5 feet tall dam does not serve any power or navigation purpose. In the Hampton Roads area, the river is as much as 5 miles (8.0 km) wide at points. Due to ocean-going shipping upriver as far as the Port of Richmond , a combination of ferryboats , high bridges and bridge-tunnels are used for highway traffic. Crossings east to west include: The SR 895 high-level crossing

1548-506: The port entered into an agreement with Scoular , a Nebraska -based agricultural company, that allows for empty containers heading back down the river to be filled with agricultural products. As of 2019, a dozen ocean shipping lines offered service to Richmond. In 2023, Fednav sold FMT, the port's day-to-day operator, to Logistec Stevedoring, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Logistec Corp, to focus on shipping. A modern $ 6.1 million investment project will allow faster movement of trucks through

1591-489: The port hard, and caused many carriers to stop providing service to it. The facility lost 78 percent of its cargo traffic, including, in early 2009, Independent Container Line (ICL), the port's principal carrier at the time, after more than 20 years of service. However, in 2008, with city funding, the James River Barge Line started the 64 Express, a barge service that ramped up to provide thrice-weekly service from

1634-589: The port. 37°27′24″N 77°25′18″W  /  37.45667°N 77.42167°W  / 37.45667; -77.42167 James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County 348 miles (560 km) to the Chesapeake Bay . The river length extends to 444 miles (715 km) if

1677-462: The proprietary efforts of the Virginia Company of London successful financially, spurring even more development, investments and immigration. Below the falls at Richmond, many James River plantations had their own wharves, and additional ports and/or early railheads were located at Warwick , Bermuda Hundred , City Point , Claremont , Scotland , and Smithfield , and, during the 17th century,

1720-411: The sender, accepting a greater liability as carriers. Large sea carriers have also evolved into MTOs; they provide customers with so-called door-to-door service. The sea carrier offers transport from the sender's premises (usually located inland) to the receiver's premises (also usually situated inland), rather than offering traditional tackle-to-tackle or pier-to-pier service. MTOs not in the possession of

1763-513: The treaty ) defines multimodal transport as follows: "'International multimodal transport' means the carriage of goods by at least two different modes of transport on the basis of a multimodal transport contract from a place in one country at which the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal transport operator to a place designated for delivery situated in a different country". In practice, freight forwarders have become important MTOs; they have moved away from their traditional role as agents for

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1806-531: The upper course of the river. From the head of the river downstream to Richmond are found the following dams as identified by the current US Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams: The tallest dam is the Reusens Dam, which also has the greatest hydroelectric nameplate capacity and the greatest reservoir capacity. At 1,617 feet, the longest dam is the Cushaw Hydroelectric Project due to

1849-561: Was considered a route for transport of produce from the Ohio Valley . The James River and Kanawha Canal was built for this purpose, to provide a navigable portion of the Kanawha River , a tributary of the Ohio River . For the most mountainous section between the two points, the James River and Kanawha Turnpike was built to provide a portage link for wagons and stagecoaches. However, before

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