November was The Port of Virginia’s second-best month for containers and its best month in history for general cargo volume, the Port Authority has reported.

Last month, the port handled 198,720 TEUs (20-foot equivalent containers), a 21-percent increase on November 2011, the authority stated in a news release.

“The port posted a 21-percent increase in both containers and TEUs handled in November (against November 2011), making it the fifth month this calendar year where Virginia has recorded a double-digit monthly increase year-over-year in these two categories,” Rodney W. Oliver, the authority’s interim executive director, stated in the release.

“And, we came within 728 TEUs of setting a new port record for TEUs, which was set back in October 2007. It is also important to point out that in November we surpassed the 2011 year-end TEU total by 2,108 TEUs.”

So far this year, the port has handled 1.9 million TEUs, versus 1.7 million TEUs during the same period last year, an increase of 8.9 percent, the release states.

Rail containers in November were at the highest level in the port’s history, representing a 40-percent increase from last November. Year-to-date rail container volumes have risen by 16.6 percent, officials stated.