The port of Antwerp handled 47,374,451 tonnes of freight in the first three months of this year, up 12.7% on the same period in 2010. The total freight volume, the container volume and the volume of liquid bulk are all higher than the level reached at the same point in the record year of 2008.
The port of Antwerp has clearly shaken off the recession, even if the volumes of conventional/breakbulk and dry bulk continue to lag.“Both these sectors suffered heavily during the recession, but are slowly recovering. Moreover, the recovery is not simply related to the state of the economy,” declared port authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx.
In the conventional/breakbulk field 2,926,057 tonnes of freight was handled, an increase of 11.7% compared with 2010. The best performer in this segment was steel, which rose in volume by 41.8% to 1,947,487 tonnes. For the rest there were mixed results for fruit (up 3.7% to 338,552 tonnes), paper and cellulose (down 47.3% to 191,901 tonnes), granite (up 15.6% to 82,526 tonnes) and non-ferrous metals (down 9.6% to 70,841 tonnes). The ro/ro volume for its part is up by 24.1% to 1,001,865 tonnes, with the number of cars handled growing by 27.9% to 252,532.
The volume of liquid and dry bulk rose overall by 20.4%, to 17,205,896 tonnes. Liquid bulk was up by 23.8% to 11,952,276 tonnes, bringing it above the record level of 2008. Dry bulk for its part experienced a rise of 13.3% to 5,253,620 tonnes. The rising trend was particularly marked for fertilizers (up 9.7% to 1,338,050 tonnes), coal (up 2.4% to 1,288,478 tonnes) and ore (up 63.5% to 946,923 tonnes).
In terms of tonnage, the Antwerp container volume in the first quarter of this year grew by 7.8% to 26,240,633 tonnes. In the same period last year the volume was 24,333,081 tonnes.
During the first quarter of 2011, a total of 3,741 seagoing ships called at Antwerp, 6.9% more than in the same period last year. The gross tonnage was up by 15.5%, to 77.2 million.