Port of Antwerp sees record freight volumes for 2016

The port of Antwerp says is expecting to see record volumes of freight in 2016, with more than 214 million tonnes handled.

The Antwerp Port Authority said on Thursday that, in 2016, shipping container volume rose above 10 million TEU for the first time in the port’s history. Meanwhile liquid bulk is also showing year-on-year expansion and, with an estimated volume of just under 70 million tonnes, it is the second biggest driver of growth at the port.

The container volume rose by 4.1% during the past 12 months and is expected to end the year at 117,979,180 tonnes. In terms of the number of containers this represents 10,056,603 TEU, an increase of 4.2%.

The conventional breakbulk volume, for its part, contracted by 2.4%, ending the year at 9,764,796 tonnes. Steel on the other hand experienced strong growth of 12%, but the lower volumes of non-ferrous metals, paper & cellulose and fruit meant that the amount of conventional breakbulk was down overall.

With these excellent growth figures Antwerp has further expanded its market share in the Hamburg – Le Havre range. Antwerp has also managed to considerably improve its position in the Far East trade over the past few years, at the expense of its direct competitors, Rotterdam and Hamburg.

source: gcaptain.com