APM Terminals BV., an A. P. Moller – Maersk Group subsidiary, is set to start operations at its new $450 million US deep-water container terminal at the port of Hampton Roads in Virginia.

The new terminal's entry will provide competition to the neighbouring port of Halifax in Canada and other East Coast ports in North America for cargo traffic, especially from Asia.

Many industry players have welcome APM's Hampton Roads project saying that the terminal will go a long way in providing much needed capacity at a time when trade volumes are expected to double.

The new terminal has been in construction for the past three years and is poised to be one of the most technologically advanced in North America.

APM Terminals already owns and runs a terminal in Hampton Roads, but will hand-over the site of the current terminal to the Virginia Port Authority (VPA).

The VPA currently operates three other terminals at the port.

Hampton Roads handled just over two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2006, making it the third busiest port on the US East Coast.

The new terminal's handling capacity is scheduled to match that figure, doubling cargo handling capacity at Hampton Roads.

“APM Terminals puts us on the map as a port that can continue to take additional volume of cargo because we have this huge amount of capacity coming on line,” said VPA's senior marketing director Tom Capozzi.

Reports say VPA officials expect to win coveted container traffic over other East Coast ports based on the convenience of a brand-new terminal with plenty of space.

According to Washington D.C. economist Paul Bingham, a company shipping via Virginia's ports could “feed an enormous percentage of customers in the eastern part of the country.”

Virginia is in a great position not least because of its availability of land and sufficient channel depth and the fact that the new terminal will be able to accommodate the world's largest vessels, he added.