By the end of this year the port of
Antwerp is expected to have handled 178 million tonnes of freight, up 13% from the recession year of 2009.
The increase is said to be mainly due to container freight, which has once again passed the 100 million-tonne mark and set a new record. Liquid bulk also performed well in 2010, setting an all-time record, and conventional/breakbulk performed better than in 2009 but still remains below 2008 levels.
Container volume rose by 17.8% to 102,775,000 tonnes. In terms of TEU it was up by 16.1% to 8,483,000 TEU. Ro/ro for its part also increased, by 14.8% to 3.6 million tonnes. In comparison with 2008, however, it is still down by 16.9%. Imports of new cars in particular are struggling to get back to 2008 levels.
The volume of bulk freight is trending up once more in 2010, up 7% on last year. Both liquid bulk (up 4.8%) and dry bulk (up 12.0%) recorded growth figures. Liquid bulk has even performed better than in 2008, with a 5.4 % increase since then. Crude oil (up 20.67%) and chemicals (up 18 %) are the top performers in this segment. While dry bulk has done better than in 2009 (up 12%), it still lags well behind 2008 levels (down 28.8%). The volume of coal handled continues to decline (down 16.3%). The volumes of ore (up 19.5 %), grain (up 14.5 %), fertilisers (up 56.8%) and sand and gravel (up 22 %) are all rising once more.
Conventional/breakbulk increased by 6.3% to 11.1 million tonnes in 2010, but remains far below 2008 levels (down 34.4%). In comparison with 2008, conventional/breakbulk is the sector experiencing the greatest difficulty in recovering from the recession.
"The figures show that Antwerp is further strengthening its position as the second-largest container port in Europe. And in liquid bulk too Antwerp is performing very well. These two sectors, which between them make up 80% of the total volume, will continue to form sources of growth for the port of Antwerp in future," the port of Antwerp said in a statement.
