The port of Antwerp has announced that it is on course to handle more than 200m tonnes of freight this year, the first time it has hit the landmark, while also setting a new record in container transhipment with more than 9m TEUs being handled (up 8 per cent).
With these growth figures Antwerp is performing 'significantly better than Rotterdam and Hamburg, the number 1 and 3 ports respectively in North-West Europe,' the port noted.
'In a landscape dominated by fierce competition, the port of Antwerp has to keep looking ahead and investing in the future,' the port authority continued. 'Only in this way can the port keep growing and ensure that the engine of our economy does not falter.
'According to current forecasts Antwerp will need new container handling capacity by 2020-2021, and so the Port Authority is making urgent preparations for the first phase of a new tidal dock with associated terminal capacity on the Left bank of the Scheldt.'
