Does the United States need a 300-ship Navy or will it over the next 70 years need seven strategic nuclear submarines on patrol in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans? Each would have 24 intercontinental ballistic missiles, all of which could carry up to five nuclear warheads.
That was the choice Vice Adm. William Burke, deputy chief of Naval Operations Warfare Systems, described Tuesday at the Congressional Breakfast Seminar Series.
Staff report
For the third consecutive month, cargo volumes at The Port of Virginia increased. The number of TEUs handled in March grew 7.7 percent compared with the same month last year.
TEUs are twenty-foot equivalent units, a standard measure in the shipping industry. In March, the port handled 179,518 TEUs, an increase of 12,799 units compared with March 2012. Export TEUs were 93,172 and import TEUs were 86,346, an increase of 3.1 and 13.1 percent, respectively.
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
Could the Tide roll into Virginia Beach by 2016?
Phil Shucet, who's credited with getting light rail up and running in Norfolk, thinks so.
A private group that includes Shucet and the builders of the Tide wants to extend the 7.4-mile track that begins at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk 5.2 miles east to Rosemont Road in Virginia Beach.
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed off on the Virginia Port Authority's decision to forgo a private operator for the Port of Virginia in favor of restructuring Virginia International Terminals - with a few conditions.
McDonnell gave his blessing in a letter to William Fralin, chairman of the authority's board of commissioners, which was released last Tuesday.
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed several amendments to the historic transportation bill that he helped craft, including reducing the titling tax to 4.15 percent from 4.3 percent.
The governor said in a statement that the amendments would ensure that the provisions of the legislation do not negatively impact Virginia businesses and citizens.
The amendments to the bill, which is expected to generate $5.9 billion in transportation funds over the next five years, include:
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
APM Terminals and JPMorgan Chase called on the Port of Virginia, but they were turned way.
The Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners elected to retain Virginia International Terminals as the operator of the Port of Virginia, a vote that ended months of speculation - and extreme worry on the part of port stakeholders - about whether the commonwealth would turn control of the port over to a private group.
By Lydia Wheeler
lydia.wheeler@insidebiz.com
Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania, ahoy. Norfolk nautical events will soon be broadcast worldwide.
Nautical Channel, an international 24/7 nautical sports and lifestyle channel based in London, plans to cover Norfolk events and televise them worldwide in five languages.
In Norfolk, Mayor Paul Fraim said aired events will run the gamut from races and boat shows to festivals like OpSail 2012.
By Jared Council
jared.council@insidebiz.com
Karen Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, was in Norfolk recently to tour Paramount Sleep, a local mattress manufacturer with 110 employees that recently started selling products in China.
Mills' visit focused on small business exports. The following remarks are from an interview conducted on the Norfolk grounds of the third-generation, family-owned mattress maker.
President Obama launched the National Export Initiative in 2010. What is it and how has it been going?
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
To privatize or not to privatize?
The Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners will answer that question this week.
Almost a year after APM Terminals submitted an unsolicited proposal to take over the operations of the Port of Virginia, board members will meet on Tuesday to cast votes that could alter the nature of how the port is run.
