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Port of Antwerp handled 95,662,759 tonnes of freight during the first six months of this year, an increase of 2.0% in comparison with the corresponding period in 2012. Liquid bulk recorded strong growth during the period, especially petroleum derivatives.
"In combination with the investments recently announced, these half-year figures lead us to be cautiously optimistic for the first semester," declared Port Authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx.
The volume of dry and liquid bulk together rose by 12.1% to 36,480,282 tonnes. Dry bulk volumes contracted by 31.6% to 7,231,296 tonnes, mainly due to stocks being run down in various North-West European ports. Import volumes are expected to pick up again in the coming months, the port said.
Meanwhile, liquid bulk surged by 33.1% to 29,248,986 tonnes. Volumes of crude oil and oil derivatives in particular sent the figures soaring. The rise was said to be largely due to the new Sea Tank Terminal 510 and Independent Belgian Refinery, which were started up again after being acquired by Gunvor. The majority of the other oil product terminals also recorded sharp increases.
The Antwerp oil and chemical sector has benefited from a steady stream of investments in recent years. In the tank storage sector, companies such as Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerpen, Sea Tank Terminal, ATPC, LBC, Vopak, ADPO, NoordNatie Odfjell Terminal and ITC Rubis Terminal Antwerpen have invested heavily in storage capacity for oil products, chemicals and gases.
Gunvor, ExxonMobil, Lanxess, BASF, FRX Polymers, Ineos Oxide and Evonik Degussa and others have also been investing in their Antwerp sites. During the past ten years, the volume of shipping freight for tank storage companies has expanded by 151%, while during the same period the number of tank storage terminals has risen by 40%, to 15 in all. The total tank storage capacity has more than doubled, to 6.3 million cubic metres (cbm). Furthermore, various tank storage companies have made significant investments that will drive the capacity still higher, the port authority said.
Production companies have also been investing steadily in their Antwerp sites. In addition to Gunvor, Lanxess, BASF, Ineos Oxide, FRX Polymers and Evonik Degussa, which are all currently investing in Antwerp, Total, Ferro, Kuwait Petroleum International and Praxair have recently announced large investment projects.
The many planned investments are set to significantly boost this capacity even more, further strengthening the position that Antwerp already holds as the largest integrated petrochemical cluster in Europe. The added value contributed by transhipment and handling of liquid bulk has also increased significantly in recent years, thanks to the introduction of highly specialised tank technology that has served as the basis for starting up numerous semi-industrial processes.
Container volume fell slightly during the past quarter. Expressed in terms of standard containers (twenty-foot equivalent units), the figure came to 4,291,219 TEU. This is 1.7% less than in 2012, when the volume came to 4,363,403 TEU. Expressed in tonnage, the volume contracted by 3.7% to 51,512,611 tonnes, down from 53,481,408 tonnes in the same period last year. Nevertheless, the port of Antwerp still retains its place as the second-largest container port in the Le Havre - Hamburg range, behind Rotterdam but ahead of Hamburg.
In the conventional breakbulk sector, 5,352,352 tonnes of freight was loaded and unloaded, down by 0.4% compared with the same period in 2012. Despite this, Antwerp still maintains its position as the largest breakbulk port in the Le Havre - Hamburg range. The ro/ro volume for its part was down by 3.8% to 2,317,514 tonnes, although the number of cars handled increased by 5.6% to 652,038.
During the first six months of 2013, a total of 7,234 seagoing ships called at the port of Antwerp, down by 1.7% compared with the same period last year. On the other hand the gross tonnage rose by 3.5% to 163.5 million, showing that the size of ships calling at Antwerp is increasing.
In comparison with the first half of 2012, this year 35% more container carriers of 13,000 TEU or more put into the port of Antwerp. Only last week, the Cosco Pride, a container carrier in the fleet operated by the Chinese shipping company Cosco with a LOA of 366 metres, successfully completed a test trip from the Deurganck dock with a draught of 14.9 metres.
"In addition to the draught achieved, the flexibility and professionalism demonstrated by all the partners involved are an excellent advertisement for Antwerp, which combines its advantages as a seaport with its geographical location near to the European hinterland," an unnamed Port Authority spokesperson is quoted as saying.
Starting this autumn, Maersk will replace the 8,400 vessels in its AE2 service (which also calls at Antwerp) with units of 13,000 TEU. In a subsequent phase, vessels of the Emma Maersk class (15,500 TEU), which already visited Antwerp at the beginning of last year, will be transferred to the AE2 service.
Now that definitive approval has been given to the Regional Land Use Plan, which defines the borders of the port expansion on the left bank of the Scheldt and the port redevelopment on the right bank, the green light has been given for a whole series of large investment projects which have been held back until now.
The availability of 1,000 hectares for development will also be an attractive prospect for potential investors. Exactly what use is to be made of this zone is set to be determined at a later stage. In the meantime, Antwerp Port Authority has announced its intention to purchase the General Motors site at a price set by experts at EUR 43,600,000. On this 90 hectare site, the port authority said it would prefer to see the development of new industrial activities with high added value, in consultation and collaboration with the Flemish Government.
