When millions of Americans ramped up their online shopping as lockdowns dragged on, 全国各地的港口都挤满了集装箱船.

The Port of Virginia found itself in the right place at the right time, 能够吸收一吨货物，因为它在Covid-19袭击之前完成了扩张.

The Port converted plenty of those pandemic-era customers into repeat users, continuing to increase its traffic as the pandemic spike has subsided. A slate of additional expansion efforts means it will ramp up even further.

And that influx of cargo has spurred lots of economic activity beyond the terminal gates.

Local colleges have started programs specifically aimed at the logistics industry, 该港口的表现吸引了新的业务，对汉普顿路航运业持续增长的猜测，导致该地区各地出现了大规模的仓库项目.

历史性的增长刺激了劳动力需求

该港口的大流行繁荣和大流行后的持续增长为该地区的工人创造了更多机会和高薪工作.

肖恩·艾弗里, 汉普顿路劳动力委员会主席兼首席执行官, 他说，疫情期间，港口为在其他行业失业的人提供了大量就业机会. 劳动力委员会能够对以前的酒店和零售工人进行再培训，让他们在码头和下游航运和物流领域工作.

“As we're seeing the port grow, we're also seeing businesses grow in our region. So Amazon, for example, everything associated with Amazon is really around connecting. 他们来这里是因为这个港口，”艾弗里说.

港口和相关领域的工作范围从高技术到入门级. 

“这在我们地区是件好事，因为它确实为增长提供了很多机会，也为对不同水平感兴趣的个人提供了很多机会,他说. 

在疫情期间，汉普顿路的就业停滞不前, with the region only recently getting back to pre-Covid jobs numbers.

但有一个亮点, 也是过去四年中所有行业中最大的赢家, 运输和仓储. 根据老道明大学的地区状况报告, 大约4,2019年至2023年期间，该行业出现了000个新工作岗位. ODU的另一份经济报告显示，该地区港口和物流工人的平均财富cff888超过72美元,1万美元一年, 远远超过汉普顿路的平均工资.

But all those new jobs can’t be filled just by retraining refugees from other sectors.

潮水社区学院致力于解决一个最紧迫的问题——让更多的司机开卡车, 快.

The college already had a semester-long program to train commercial drivers. 但是劳拉·汉森, TCC负责劳动力解决方案的临时副总裁, 他们说，随着港口业务的蓬勃发展，他们听说卡车运输公司和其他缺乏司机的企业的需求非常大

“仅仅把产品带进来是不够的, 但我们必须做好把产品搬出去的准备, 所以这对我们来说是一个很大的导火索,汉森说.

TCC started an expedited Commercial Driver’s License course in the spring of 2022. 就像高中的驾驶财富cff888课程, students study both in the classroom and out on the driving course. 一旦他们完成了课程, they can head to the DMV to test for their commercial driver’s license, 或CDL.

不到两年, 该项目已培养出121名学生, 他们中的绝大多数人已经获得了CDL. TCC开始是每个月上一节为期四周的课. 现在, TCC is launching a new class every two weeks and they still can’t keep up.

“即使我们的产量增加了两倍, 我们远不能满足该地区的需求,汉森说.

对一些学生来说, 汉森说，最终的结果——商业驾驶执照和在一个不断发展的领域的工作——是改变生活的.

The average salary for a commercially licensed truck driver is around $60,000在汉普顿路, 她说. 那’s nearly the same as the median household income in Norfolk, according to U.S. 人口普查数据.

“所以，如果你是一家之主，你需要赚取财富cff888来维持你的家庭, 这是一条很棒的大道,汉森说. 她指出，当地需要这么多司机, 无论是在卡车运输还是在建筑等领域, 现在不全是长途驾驶了.

Sam Kinloch was on the training range one cold afternoon in December, practicing parallel parking a trailer in one of TCC’s white training trucks. He works for a construction testing company that needs to tow construction equipment. 

但每隔几天就来上课的货运公司招聘人员让金洛克重新思考他的工作.

“这让我觉得, ‘哇, I could just leave that company and then go to a trucking company and make probably double,’”他说。.

Ebone Gray, another student, was working in a restaurant before starting the class. She sees it as a way not just to get paid a lot more, but as a way to travel.

“我可以开几英里的车，但坐飞机是不行的，”格雷说.

另一位招聘人员告诉她，有一个专门针对女性的项目，让她们在仅仅六个月的驾驶经验后就能成为公司的培训师, 格雷喜欢的.

“Instead of going on the road, I could be working with people like myself,” 她说.

While TCC is focused on turning around CDL candidates like Gray and Kinloch quickly, Old Dominion University started a whole new school to study the shipping industry.

Ricardo Ungo was already the director of ODU’s 海上, Ports and 物流 Institute. 现在, 他还领导了新的供应链学院的成立, 物流及海运业务.

Ungo说，港口和相关工作的前景对那些能找到的人来说意味着很多机会. 但Ungo发现的部分挑战是，他的学生对这些行业知之甚少.

“你隔壁就有诺福克国际航站楼，你可以问学生，‘港口有机会吗?的沉默. 他们不知道，”乌戈说.

新学校将于今年秋天开始上课并颁发证书. Within a couple of years, Ungo said it should be offering full degree programs. 这将有助于学生进入经理级别的职位.

Ungo said shipbuilding has long been the region’s dominant industry, 但在疫情爆发之前，尤其是疫情爆发以来，航运业和商业的稳定增长意味着，它们在该地区经济中所占的份额大致相当. 

综合起来，非军事海运业现在代表 该州五分之一的劳动力根据威廉发表的一项研究 & 玛丽去年晚些时候.

乌戈说，港口的增长会给自己带来好处. 更多的货物意味着更多的航运业务, 这意味着更多的就业机会, which means there’s a workforce that knows supply chain and logistics. 

那, 反过来, 使该地区对需要这种劳动力的其他类型的企业更具吸引力.

Ungo说:“一旦你在这里有了这个体量，那么它也会成为吸引其他活动的磁铁。.

城市试图抓住增长

While colleges and agencies are trying to strengthen the logistics workforce, cities around the region are trying to grab a piece of the growing shipping pie.

其中很多都是以庞大仓库的形式出现的, 从船上下来的货物在哪里等待装载，运往最终目的地. 

在财富坊cff999, 那里有两个弗吉尼亚港的设施, 经济发展部主任布莱恩·多纳休说，利用这些港口的邻近性是一件“容易的事”.”

Two large warehouse projects have gone up in the city in the last couple of years, 包括164,000 square foot freezer facility to store frozen foods shipped through the port.

但多纳休表示，财富坊cff999的可开发用地与周边城市相比相形见绌, 哪些公司在巨型仓库综合体上押下了重注，他们认为随着港口的继续扩张，这些仓库将会被填满.

在切萨皮克, 该市已经花费了1400万美元购买农田，用于建设一个大型农场,占地400英亩，名为威廉姆斯大道. 它没有任何租户排队——这个项目完全是在投机的基础上准备建设的, 显示了当地对港口实力的信心.

那 project in Chesapeake and a planned 510-acre warehouse complex in Suffolk 造成了紧张 在周边社区，推动了公民主导的限制这些城市发展的努力.

弗吉尼亚海滩也有类似的担忧, where economic development officials said to capitalize on the booming port, 这座城市需要愿意在历史上禁止开发的农业地区的土地上进行建设. 

一个神秘的医疗材料制造设施，代号为 《财富cff888》引发了一场风暴 last year as rural residents of Virginia Beach fought to preserve the city’s Green Line, a boundary that holds back development from stretching into the Pungo area.

One of the city’s biggest economic announcements of the last few years was an 亚马逊航运中心 这将带来1000多个就业岗位. 

政府. 格伦·扬金(Glenn Youngkin)和弗吉尼亚海滩市长鲍比·戴尔(Bobby Dyer)在9月份宣布该计划时表示，经济增长和靠近弗吉尼亚港是吸引3.5亿美元投资的主要因素.

港口如何利用COVID - 19，接下来会发生什么

When the Coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, everything ground to a halt.

“当COVID来袭时，你看到贸易就从桌子上掉下来了. 作为一个行业，我们没有意识到贸易会变得如此糟糕,乔·哈里斯说, 维吉尼亚港的发言人.

疫情爆发大约18个月后，在网上购物激增之后，全球贸易迅速复苏. 但航运业并没有为此做好准备. Supply chain problems drove prices up and left store shelves temporarily empty.

Dozens of cargo ships stacked up outside of ports like Los Angeles, waiting to unload cargo. 世界各地的港口码头都已不堪重负. 

而其他港口则被关闭, 弗吉尼亚的港口刚刚完成了两次大型扩建, 大幅增加货物上限. 

在财富坊cff999, the Virginia International Gateway doubled its container capacity in 2018. 在诺福克国际航站楼, 在高峰到来之前，该设施的南半部进行了全面检修，这意味着它成为了下一代货运业务.

“这有助于从陷入困境的港口吸引业务. 然后，它帮助我们保留了业务，使其不会回到原来的位置,哈里斯说.

In December 2021, the port handled 25% more containers than it had the year before. 2022 went on to become the biggest year in Port of Virginia history.

从那以后，一切都正常化了, but the Port turned plenty of those pandemic-era customers into repeat users. 尽管疫情高峰已经消退，但交通仍在继续增长.

另一个1美元.40亿美元的扩张努力意味着它将进一步加速，并预计会有更多的增长.

扩建的最大部分是加深和拓宽连接汉普顿路和切萨皮克湾的航运通道. 只要这个月底疏浚工作完成, the region will boast the deepest shipping channel on the East Coast, 哪个能让更大的货船通过.

更重要的是, 拓宽后的运河将允许船只在相反的方向上相互通行——这在目前是不可能的. 

当货船进港或出港时, 其他所有交通都暂停了几个小时, leaving ships idling in the Bay or stuck at the docks waiting their turn, 哈里斯说. 他所说的“通行通道”的开通将大大加快货船的周转速度——这是吸引更多货物进入该地区的又一个卖点.

The port is also working on upgrading the rail system at Norfolk International, 哪一个有望在今年春天结束, and will overhaul the north end of the facility to match the upgrades done to the south side. 这将需要几年的时间，但将使该设施更快，能够处理更多的集装箱. 

“那's really the sales pitch: Bring your big vessel in with loads of cargo. Don't worry about the water depth and don't worry about our ability to handle it, 和我们的竞争对手进行对比,哈里斯说.

哈里斯说 many people took notice of supply chains for the first time during the pandemic, 当商品从商店货架上消失时.

“But I don't think that people realize that about 80% of what's in your house, 什么是消费, 你的房子是用什么做的, 你的穿着, 你开的东西是从集装箱船上运来的.”