Container volume continues to rise
Port of Antwerp : The strong freight figures for the first quarter continued unabated in the second quarter. The container volume for its part rose by 8.2% to 66,298,043 tonnes. In TEU this indicates an increase to 5,567,905 TEU (up 8.3%). May was an all-time record month, with the port of Antwerp handling a peak container volume of more than 1 million TEU.
Growth was experienced on all trade routes, both on the import and on the export side. Despite geopolitical tensions there was a favourable economic climate with strong growth in consumer goods, wheeled vehicles and chemicals. Trade with Europe experienced the strongest growth, up 14.2%, thanks in part to Antwerp being able to win back transhipment freight which last year suffered a dip due to a temporary shortage of dock labour. Trade with North America for its part was up by 10.3%, although the first quarter of 2017 was fairly weak. On the Asian market there was growth of 3%.
“The strong performance of the port of Antwerp, our main economic engine, is good news for the Belgian economy in general,” declared Port Authority CEO Jacques Vandermeiren. “The growth figures confirm our role as a leading world player and demonstrate the continuing attractiveness of the port. But they also confirm the previous forecasts that we will soon reach our maximum container capacity. During the past period we have well exceeded the optimum utilisation level for the terminals below the locks, which can have a negative impact on efficiency. We will therefore continue to emphasise the importance of having additional and commercially useful container capacity below the locks.”
