The port of Antwerp has revealed that its nine-month transhipment figures stood at just over 177m tonnes, up 6 per cent on the same period of 2017 as it remains on course to register a sixth-straight year of growth.
Container traffic registered 'robust' growth, up by 7.1 per cent (98.4m tonnes) compared with the first nine months of 2017.
In terms of Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), transhipments grew by 6.8 per cent to 8.3m TEU.
According to the port, all shipping areas registered growth, both in terms of imports and exports, with the sole exception of exports to Central America which registered a slight drop.
Transhipment for the largest shipping area, Europe, registered the strongest growth: 12.4 per cent. Transhipment for North America grew by 8.2 per cent and for Asia by 2.2 per cent.
Imports from China after eight months stand at the status quo more or less, while exports are 6.7 per cent lower. Owing to the Chinese import ban on old paper and plastic waste, export of full containers to China declined and more empty containers are exported.
“2018 is already a peak year for our port,' said Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO, Antwerp Port Authority. 'Not only because of the record figure that we can present yet again, but also because of the wave of investments in recent months.'
