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R-12-28 A RESOLUTION CONCERNING AN UNSOLICITED PROPOSAL FROM APM TERMINALS TO LEASE AND OPERATE THE PORT OF VIRGINIA. WHEREAS, the existence of the Port of Virginia was brought about when Governor Holton and the General Assembly of Virginia consolidated the independent ports of Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Newport News in the early 1970's, and WHEREAS since then, the Port of Virginia has been owned and operated by the Virginia Port Authority, and today the port is the most valuable publicly owned asset in the Commonwealth of Virginia, contributing immeasurably year after year to state tax revenues and business profitability, business growth, and employment throughout the Commonwealth, and WHEREAS Portsmouth has supported the Port of Virginia and the maritime economy in numerous important ways over the years, including designing Route 164 to accommodate rail service, clearing the Port Authority's title to ownership of Portsmouth Marine Terminal, providing funds to construct the Pinners Point Connector, obtaining federal funding for the Route 164 rail corridor, clearing title for the rail corridor, and helping to plan the Craney Island transportation corridor, and WHEREAS, for the past several years, APM Terminals ("APM") has operated a state-of- the-art maritime t~rminal in Portsmouth, and the terminal has met or exceeded every operational, efficiency and environmental goal, and APM has been a model corporate citizen in Portsmouth and has contributed in numerous ways to improving the quality of life for Portsmouth citizens, and WHEREAS, APM has submitted to the Virginia Secretary of Transportation an unsolicited proposal under the Virginia Public-Private Transportation Act to lease and operate the Port of Virginia, and WHEREAS, APM Terminals is part of the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group corporate family ("Maersk"), and Maersk, a Danish company, is the largest and most successful shipping company in the world, and WHEREAS, having a Maersk company operate the Port of Virginia is likely to cause very substantial growth in ship visits here, with vast potential economic benefit for the state and for Hampton Roads, possibly causing the Port of Virginia to become the largest port on the East Coast, and WHEREAS, the APM proposal would entail making certain cash and property payments by APM to the state in exchange for being able to operate the Port of Virginia for a term of forty- eight years, and WHEREAS, the property payment would be to transfer ownership of the APM Portsmouth Terminal to the Virginia Port Authority at the beginning of the lease, and