The volume of fresh fruit shipped via the Belgian port of Antwerp fell significantly during the first half of 2012, according to new figures released by the city's port authorities.
Publishing its report for freight volume shipments during the first six months of the year, the port confirmed it had handled a total of 66,963 tonnes of fruit in that period, 4.3 per cent less than it did in January-June 2011.
Meanwhile, an annual study of Belgian ports' economic importance carried out by the National Bank of Belgium has shown that the port of Antwerp generated €9.8bn of direct added value in 2010.
That figure was 60 per cent of the total direct added value of all the Belgian ports put together, the report said, and represented 9.5 per cent of the GDP in the region of Flanders and 5.4 per cent of GDP in Belgujm as a whole.
