Industry is important. It's the means by which the products we consider essential are made and distributed, so it's a process we can't live without. This is especially true in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, which depends more on industry for economic support than a lot of other cities. A variety of activities go on in coastal Virginia. Ships are built and repaired; metal products are churned out of factories, and thousands of gallons of oil flows through the industrial valves of area fuel pipelines. Industry is the lifeblood of Hampton Roads. Just look at all that goes on in Portsmouth alone.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard

Despite the name, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located in Portsmouth near the mouth of the Elizabeth River. It's the largest industrial facility belonging to the United States Navy and is the primary repair and construction facility for all U.S. Navy ships, particularly those on the East Coast. Over 11,000 people are employed here, but not all of them are military. So if you're an expert on hydraulic piping or metallurgy and are able to pass a background check, you might be able to find a job here. It occupies over 5 square kilometers and houses all types of ship from nuclear carriers to guided missile submarines.

Portsmouth Marine Terminal

The marine terminal is a collection of civilian dockyards that move hundreds of tons of cargo every day, mostly through the popular container system which allows cranes to load and offload corrugated metal boxes which can subsequently be placed directly on a train or tractor trailer. Ports like these are how your organic baby bath products get into the country from Papua New Guinea and how the products produced in American factories find their way all over the world. Companies with operations at the marine terminal include Earl Industries, APM Terminals, and Southeastern Freight Lines.

Manufacturing

Though Portsmouth falls behind some of its sister cities in the heavy manufacturing sector, there are sixty six manufacturing operations in the city of Portsmouth which employ over 1,000 people. Their operations range from meat production and food manufacturing to the production of metal products on a hand notcher. Products you may recognize that are made here include: steel decking, lumber, windows and doors, building materials, tools, awnings, solar power systems, and tents.

Transportation

Hampton Roads is one of the busiest waterways in the United States. Barges and cargo ships of all sizes are constantly chugging back and forth across the tidal basin. Water was the earliest form of transportation, but the roads and railways go back a long time as well. Strapping machines are hard at work at the offices of CSX Transit, the Norfolk Southern Railway, and the trucking companies that trawl the Hampton Roads beltway.