Virginia Economic Review

Food and beverage and pharmaceutical companies rely on Virginia’s cold chain infrastructure to succeed.

While most waterproofing products do their job entirely on the outside of a surface, Alchemco, Inc.’s products work from the inside out. The company has used VEDP’s International Trade services to pursue a similar inside-out path for its growth.

Joe Dunlap is the founder of BlueJ Advisors, a supply chain consulting firm for owners, operators, and investors. Previously, he spent nearly a decade at CBRE, where he oversaw the company’s supply chain practice, and has decades of supply chain experience with Accenture, FORTNA, Dematic, and UPS.

Stephen Edwards has served as the CEO and executive director of The Port of Virginia since 2021.

It’s not the first time Washington Dulles International Airport, having served record numbers of passengers the past two years, has eyed an expansion of its operations, infrastructure, and ultimately, air cargo volume. But this time, circumstances are different.

Sam Northington doesn’t want any military veteran to struggle like his dad did. After 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, his father retired as a master sergeant and went back to college to get his teaching credentials. “That didn’t really fit him. He never really taught,” Northington recalled.

When President Donald Trump announced in June he would “unleash drone dominance,” it’s no surprise that the Commonwealth looked to NASA and its 108-year-old Langley Research Center in Hampton for guidance.

If you imagine timelines as train tracks and key events as moments when tracks converge, this is a pivotal time for rail in Virginia.

Virginia’s transportation network faces congestion issues that come with population growth, and air travel is no exception.

With its strategic Mid-Atlantic location, deep water ports, expanding highway and rail networks, and a business-friendly environment, the Commonwealth is fast becoming a warehousing and logistics powerhouse.

As Virginia businesses build out and improve their cold chain infrastructure, they must be creative to grab a stake in the nation’s $42 billion business.

Connections are an essential foundation of business success — and businesses trust Virginia’s infrastructure to provide a multimodal transportation system that reliably connects them to suppliers, customers, and partners.

Virginia Offers Best-in-Class Export Assistance for Companies' Complete Life Cycle Exporting can be a strong strategy for connecting companies with demand or diversifying their market bases to better weather economic conditions.

The last year has been challenging to all aspects of the logistics industry, and The Port of Virginia was not immune.

International trade is beneficial for American consumers and businesses alike. Benefits for consumers include lower costs and a greater variety of goods available in their local markets.

John Keppler is chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Enviva, the world's largest producer of woody biomass and one of Virginia's largest exporters out of its private terminal in the city of Chesapeake.

With Initial Funding Approved and Bold Goals on the Horizon, Virginia's International Trade Strategic Plan is Moving Forward The fundamental conditions are in place for Virginia to significantly grow its international trade. Now, the Commonwealth is setting a course to capitalize on those assets.

Stephen Edwards joined The Port of Virginia as CEO and executive director in January 2021. Before joining the port, he was president and CEO of TraPac, which operates container terminals in California and Florida.