Economy of Norfolk, Virginia facts for kids
Norfolk is a really important city in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. It's like the main hub for business and culture. The city's economy is closely tied to the whole region, especially because of the many waterways around it. Norfolk is in a great spot at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Its deep water channels are like superhighways for ships, bringing goods in and out from all over the country and the world. It's also home to the world's biggest naval base!
Military Powerhouse
The Hampton Roads area is a huge center for the military, especially the United States Navy. Norfolk is home to the most important base, Naval Station Norfolk. This base is located on the Sewell's Point Peninsula in the city's northwest corner. It's the main base for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and it's also where the United States Second Fleet is based. This means about 62,000 active duty service members, 75 ships, and 132 aircraft call Norfolk home! Norfolk also hosts Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, which is the headquarters for Allied Command Transformation (part of NATO) and the United States Joint Forces Command.
The region is also very important for companies that work with the military. Many businesses in Norfolk focus on building and repairing ships. Big shipyards in Norfolk include BAE Systems Ship Repair, Colonna's Shipyard, and NASSCO. Most of their work comes from the Navy, but they also do some repairs for private ships.
When you add other important military bases like Naval Air Station Oceana, Norfolk Naval Shipyard (in Portsmouth), Langley Air Force Base, and Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, you can see how important the military is. It's the main engine for the region's economy and a big part of its culture. In 2004, experts thought that over 35% of all the money made in the Norfolk-Newport News-Virginia Beach area came from military spending. Also, 75% of all the growth in the region since 2001 was because the military spent more money.
Busy Commercial Ports
After the military, the cargo ports are the second most important industry for Hampton Roads and Norfolk. The Virginia Port Authority (VPA), which is based in Norfolk, owns and runs three major port facilities in Hampton Roads. These ports handle large cargo, like containers and other goods. In Norfolk, Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) is one of these facilities. It has some of the biggest and fastest container cranes in the world!
In 2006, the three VPA terminals together handled over 2 million TEUs (which are like standard shipping containers) and 475,000 tons of other cargo. This made it the second busiest port on the East Coast of North America, right after the Port of New York and New Jersey. Plus, just across the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, a company called Maersk spent $450 million to open the largest container terminal on the East Coast in late 2007.
Besides NIT, Norfolk is also home to Lambert's Point Docks. This is the biggest place in the Northern Hemisphere for moving coal from trains to ships. About 48 million tons of coal are moved here every year! This coal comes mostly from the Appalachian mountains in western Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. It's loaded onto trains, sent to the port, and then put onto huge cargo ships. These ships then take the coal to places like New England, Europe, and Asia.
Many major shipping companies have offices in the region, often in Norfolk. Some of the biggest international shipping companies have even chosen Norfolk as their main office for North America. These companies are often found in the Norfolk World Trade Center building or have built offices in the Lake Wright Executive Center. Some of them include:
- CMA CGM - This French company is the world's third largest shipping line, and its North American headquarters is in Norfolk.
- Zim Integrated Shipping Services - This Israeli company is the 13th largest shipping line in the world, and its North American headquarters is also in Norfolk.
- Maersk Line Limited - This company is part of the world's largest shipping line, A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. It specializes in shipping contracts for the U.S. government.
Growing Tourism
Virginia Beach and Williamsburg have always been popular tourist spots in the region. However, with the improvements in downtown Norfolk and the building of a cruise ship pier near Nauticus, tourism is becoming a bigger part of Norfolk's economy. The number of people visiting Norfolk on cruise ships grew a lot, from 50,000 in 2003 to 107,000 in both 2004 and 2005. In April 2007, the city finished building a new, modern cruise ship terminal next to the pier, costing $36 million. Because of this construction, the number of passengers dropped a bit to 70,000 in 2006, but it was expected to go back up to 90,000 in 2007 and even higher in later years. Unlike most cruise ship terminals that are in industrial areas, Norfolk's terminal is right downtown. Tourists and cruise lines love this because it's close to hotels, restaurants, shops, and fun cultural places in the city.
Companies Based in Norfolk
Many interesting companies have their main offices in Norfolk:
- BlackHawk Products Group - This company makes special gear like holsters, body armor, and backpacks for the U.S. Defense Department and police forces around the world.
- FHC Health Systems - This is one of the top 250 largest private companies in the U.S. It focuses on managing health care, providing health services, and offering online medical reports.
- Landmark Communications - This is one of the country's largest privately owned media companies. It owns several daily newspapers, local TV stations, special publications, and is most famous for owning The Weather Channel and weather.com.
- Dominion Enterprises - This company is fully owned by Landmark Communications. It's a media group that includes many special publications and online classified ads. The company recently finished building its headquarters downtown.
- Lombart Instrument - This is the largest company in the United States that distributes eye care instruments.
- Norfolk Southern - This is a Fortune 500 company and one of the country's largest railroad operators. Its headquarters is in downtown Norfolk.
- Portfolio Recovery Associates - This company's main business is buying, collecting, and managing unpaid customer bills.
- Sentara Healthcare - This is a nonprofit healthcare organization that runs ten hospitals.
- Optima Health - This is a health management organization that is part of Sentara Healthcare.
- MDV Nash Finch
