PORTSMOUTH, Va. — After the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, Port of Virginia officials warned there could be a substantial increase of containers coming to Hampton Roads.
Now weeks after the disaster, those in Hampton Roads are starting to feel the impacts.
"It's all that anyone will talk about," said Brooke Deems, president of the Tidewater Motor Truck Association. "But it's unavoidable, the Port is doing everything it can."
The Port of Virginia is one of the closest ports located to Baltimore and is taking in a wide share of the imports meant for that city. Deems said truck drivers then have to come to Hampton Roads to pick it up, leading to more traffic out on the roads.
Some drivers told 13News Now they have waited upwards of two to four hours waiting to pack up or unload their containers. There have been instances where the terminals are so crowded that the problem spills over onto the main roads.
"While we were ready to handle an increase of volume, if it doubles overnight it makes it a little bit harder for everyone to ease into that explosion of freight at the terminal," Deems said.
According to the Port of Virginia, anywhere from 18,000 to 20,000 containers are expected to arrive at the port within April alone.
The demand has led to an influx of drivers arriving at Hampton Roads, and Deems said it comes without any overtime.
"If a driver actually starts his engine at 6 o'clock in the morning, he can essentially right now drive until 6 p.m.," Deems said. "If you can imagine him trying to sit for 2 hours waiting somewhere, he doesn't get to extend his time just because he was sitting there waiting."
To combat the long lines, the Port of Virginia has extended its terminal operating hours. Now, drivers can arrive two hours earlier, from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m., to pick up and drop off their containers.
There is no word on how long these new hours will last, but it could be several weeks as crews are still working to re-open the Port of Baltimore with alternative channels.