Advanced Manufacturing Business Opportunities in Southern Virginia

SOVA is situated on the border of North Carolina and Virginia and is within an easy drive to Washington, D.C. SOVA’s prime location on the U.S. East Coast holds a strategic advantage in creating a business opportunity for advanced manufacturing companies by providing highly accessible by air, land and sea. With Virginia’s business incentives and a well-established transportation infrastructure, your business has optimal access to regional and international airports, major highways and railways, and the Port of Virginia, a world-leading maritime gateway.

SOVA is accessible by 10 regional and international commercial passenger airports located within the state and additional international airports located right outside the Virginia border.  These airports include Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Richmond International Airport (RIC), and Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), which offers a direct flight to London.

SOVA sits on a well-connected, uncongested network of U.S. highways and interstates.  US-58 spans the entire region, east to west, and connects to other highways and interstates including: US-220, US-15, US-301, US-501, US-460, US-60, US-29, I-77, I-64, I-81, I-85, and I-95. For businesses that rely on moving finished products, this translates to shorter transit times to receive raw materials and to move finished goods across the country. Approximately half of the U.S. population is located within a day’s drive of SOVA, and within a two-day’s drive, approximately 75 percent of the U.S. population can be reached by truck, putting businesses in close proximity with their customers and the supply chain.

When looking for an advanced manufacturing business opportunity transportation and infrastructure are an important factor. Transporting large shipments of goods is very efficient by rail, and SOVA’s well-established rail service runs across the region via CSX and Norfolk Southern, connecting to the Port of Virginia and to 19 key destinations across the U.S. helping businesses move goods where they need to go. The Port of Virginia is home to the largest intermodal rail port on the East Coast, and SOVA’s proximity to the Port allows businesses to leverage the Port to their advantage.

The Port of Virginia is world-leading maritime gateway and provides businesses in SOVA direct access to the rest of the world via sea, enabling businesses in industries like advanced manufacturing reliable means to import and export their goods.  The fifth busiest port in the U.S., the Port of Virginia offers direct service to more than 45 countries worldwide and is the only East Coast port with Congressional authorization for a 55-foot depth channel, easily accommodating larger cargo shipments and allowing them to come closer to shore. Situated just 2.5 hours to open sea, the Port of Virginia is typically the first-in, last-out port of call for many of their customers, providing a balanced ratio of container exports to imports. Goods, whether coming or going, are handled efficiently and without the delay of long transit time.

SOVA is currently home to a growing manufacturing labor market and a cluster of automotive and aerospace manufacturing companies, and its prime location provides a variety of advanced manufacturing business opportunities with strategic access to existing OEM clusters in the Midwest and South. Being so close to its customers and supply chain helps SOVA remain a top choice for both traditional automotive and aerospace suppliers and those of the future as the industry advances to more connected and autonomous technologies.

Weather is an important consideration in industries like advanced manufacturing that rely on a strong, uninterrupted transportation infrastructure to move their products. SOVA enjoys year-round mild climate that is historically unaffected by temperamental coastal and winter storms, a highly desirable quality when looking for a suitable home base.