Port of Antwerp

The port of Antwerp in Belgium has announced that it handled some 87m tonnes of freight during the first six months of 2010, an increase of 12.7 per cent over the year-earlier period.

Container volumes from January to June 2010 rose by nearly 20 per cent compared with the year-earlier period, from 42.9m to 51.3m tonnes.

Expressed in standard containers, volumes grew by 16.2 per cent to 4.2m TEU.

“This result gets us back to 2008 levels and confirms Antwerp’s position as Europe’s second largest container port,” said Antwerp Port Authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx. “However, the positive trend in 2010 does not mean that we can afford to be any less careful about further developments.”

The port revealed that it handled 675,061 tonnes of fruit in the first six months of 2010, a year-on-year increase of 2.7 per cent.