With expected growth of 5.1 per cent compared with 2017, the earlier forecasts of a 6th successive record year have been confirmed by the port of Antwerp. The expected total freight volume in 2018 is 235 million tonnes.
The new record is based on unparalleled growth of all types of cargo. The large expansion in container freight continues, reaching 130 million tonnes (up 5.8 per cent) or 11 million TEU (up 5.5 per cent). Liquid and solid bulk are up by 4.5 per cent (to 76.5 million tonnes) and 5 per cent (to 12.8 million tonnes) respectively, while breakbulk has experienced growth of 1.8 per cent (to 15.6 million tonnes).
In 2018 leading international players in the chemical industry including among others Borealis, INEOS, Nippon, Sea-Mol and Oiltanking/AGT brought a huge wave of investment to the port, amounting to more than EUR 2 billion. Their choice of Antwerp confirms the port’s attractiveness for chemical companies, as the largest integrated chemical cluster in Europe.
Port Authority CEO Jacques Vandermeiren: “With these excellent growth figures and the recent surge of investment, in 2018 the port has once again confirmed its role as the main engine of Belgium’s industry. We will continue on the same course as before, towards a sustainable port for the future. But to keep growing in a sustainable way, the whole port community must strain every effort together with us, to meet today’s challenges facing. The port of the future must have enough capacity and be accessible, sustainable, smart and secure to remain attractive for investors.”
While the new record year and the investment surge together confirm the vitality of the port, they also confirm earlier forecasts that the maximum container capacity will very soon be reached so that additional container handling capacity is urgently needed. Port Authority CEO Jacques Vandermeiren outlined the situation: “We are already far beyond the optimum capacity limits in the terminals below the locks, with serious consequences for efficiency. We therefore continue to insist that additional container capacity below the locks is urgently needed.”
For freight transport the aim is to achieve a significant modal shift by 2030, reducing the proportion of freight that travels by road from 55 per cent to 43 per cent. The parallel aim is to double the proportion of rail transport, bringing it to 15 per cent. The share of freight carried by barge is set to increase from the already high level of 38 per cent to 42 per cent.
As the year 2018 comes to an end so also does the career of Marc Van Peel. After 12 years as alderman for the port and chairman of Antwerp Port Authority, this veteran politician will take leave of Port House for the last time and begin his well deserved retirement. In his honour the new Wagen room on the ground floor has been renamed in his honour: henceforth it will be called “Event Hall in honour of Marc Van Peel, President of the Antwerp Port Authority from 2007 to 2018.”
At the same time we will welcome Annick De Ridder as the new port alderman at the beginning of the year. “I am confident that we can look forward to constructive collaboration,” said Jacques Vandermeiren.
