PORTS OF POSSIBILITY: North Carolina State Ports Authority announces an expansion and discusses advances in global shipping.

As international trade continues to flourish, future-focused businesses are relying on competitively priced access to global markets to help their operations thrive. That's why they choose the modernized facilities and abundant capacity of North Carolina Ports.

The North Carolina State Ports Authority is constantly seeking new ways to expedite shipping, expand services and tailor its growth to customer needs. An aggressive $200 million improvement plan is underway at the Port of Wilmington, which recently completed a Section 203 study to determine the feasibility of necessary harbor improvements.

The port is expanding to simultaneously accommodate multiple ultra-large container vessels and to increase the speed and efficiency of loading and unloading vessels. The container yard expansion will increase the Port of Wilmington's annual throughput capacity to roughly 1.2 million TEU (20-foot equivalent unit).

The Port of Wilmington is also home to one of the few on-port cold storage facilities in the country, offering more than 300 refrigerated container plugs on terminal and some of...