Port of Antwerp maintains growth trend

Port of Antwerp: Container freight volume rose by 2.9 per cent to 4.42 million TEU during the first six months; conventional breakbulk down by 6 per cent

The port of Antwerp handled 98.23 million tonnes of freight in the first six months of 2014. That is 2.7 per cent more than in the same period last year, itself already a record year. The container freight volume rose by 4.0 per cent during the first six months, to 53.5 million tonnes. This corresponds to 4.42 million TEU, an increase of 2.9 per cent. Ro/ro freight for its part continued to perform well during the past six months, with a volume of 2.34 million tonnes, 1.3 per cent more than the same period last year, although the number of cars handled was down slightly (by 1.4%) to 643,164.

Conventional breakbulk on the other hand produced negative figures, down by 6 per cent to 5.03 million tonnes. One important factor in this decline is that a proportion of the fruit imports now arrives in containers instead of conventional freight. To a certain extent the negative figures therefore indicate a shift in the method of transport rather than a fall in the absolute volume. Steel for its part experienced a stronger second quarter and finished the first half year with modest growth of 0.2 per cent, to 3.3 million tonnes.

During the first six months of this year 6,991 ships called at Antwerp, 3.4 per cent fewer than in the same period last year. On the other hand the gross tonnage rose by 1 per cent to 165,121,359 GT, thus confirming the trend towards fewer but larger and more heavily laden ships being served in Antwerp.

www.portofantwerp.com/en

Quelle: LogEastics
Portal: www.logistik-express.com