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The Port of Virginia is preparing to receive “big ships” potentially weekly after the largest container ship yet arrived at the Virginia International Gateway terminal in Portsmouth on Monday.

“This is what we have been preparing for: the talk is over, the big ships are here,” Virginia Port Authority Executive Director and CEO John F. Reinhart said.

Early Monday morning, the 1,200-foot-long and 158-foot-wide COSCO Development arrived at Virginia International Gateway. For comparison, the ship is 100 feet longer than the new Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and can carry the equivalent of 13,092 containers that are 20 feet long. That beats the port’s record ship to call last year by a capacity of 3,000 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs.

To the kids at Ettrick Elementary School, the gifts from online retail giant Amazon.com look like pure fun, but to Amazon and school officials, they’re powerful learning tools.

Executives and employees from Amazon’s Chesterfield County fulfillment center joined students, school officials and local dignitaries Friday to announce a donation of $7,500 worth of items to help equip a new learning laboratory at the school that will focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Half a century ago, John Tyler Community College opened its doors to 1,200 students at its lone Chester campus.

Today, the school has grown to become the fifth-largest community college in the state, educating tens of thousands of students annually from its two campuses. Instead of throwing a stand-alone event to celebrate the school’s birthday, John Tyler is incorporating its 50-year celebration into other events throughout the year, the largest of which is its 12th annual Fool for Art festival, which takes place this Saturday, April 22.

Chesterfield Business News Atlantic Constructors, Inc., (ACI) the region’s leading commercial and industrial contractor with […]

On maps, the blue ribbon of the Appomattox River cleaves the Tri-Cities area in two, separating north bank from south bank, Colonial Heights and Chesterfield from Petersburg, Hopewell, Dinwiddie and Prince George.

The newly released master plan for the Appomattox River Trail would redraw that map, spanning the watery divide with a series of bridges and connecting the trails developed independently by the six municipalities to knit the region more closely together around its most valuable natural resource.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore touted Dinwiddie County’s new Aldi distribution center as another step forward in the governor’s ambitious plans to build a “New Virginia Economy” at a groundbreaking for the project held March 24.

“This is just a continuation of what we have,” McAuliffe declared, citing the 78,000 people in the commonwealth who work in logistics and distribution.

When it opens in August 2018, the Dinwiddie division headquarters and distribution center will add at least another 145 Virginians to that total. Between those labor force increases, the 500,000 square foot building that will be constructed and the $57 million in investment the new facility will require, the Aldi represents one of the largest economic development projects in the county and the region in several years.

Last month, Virginia’s Gateway Region Economic Development Organization hosted the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s (VEDP) new President & CEO Stephen Moret for a regional familiarity tour of the southern half of the Richmond MSA.

VEDP leads Virginia’s marketing efforts to businesses both domestically and internationally, negotiating incentives with companies planning large capital investment and significant job creation. A close partner of VGR, VEDP works to bring more jobs to the Commonwealth.

A respected member of the community was recognized by the region’s leading economic development organization for his tireless efforts to support Dinwiddie and help to support the group in its efforts to spark business growth in the localities they serve.

During last month’s regular meeting of the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors, members of Virginia’s Gateway Region board of directors presented a resolution in recognition of Milton Hargrave, Jr., praising him and giving him a heartfelt thank you for his many years of service to the board, which came to an end in December of last year.