In Belgium, the Port of Antwerp has signed a collaboration agreement with the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo aimed at further strengthening the good trade relations with that country.
The agreement was signed in April by Luc Arnouts, COO of Antwerp Port Authority, and Saulo de Castro Abreu Filho, secretary of state for transport and logistics of Sao Paulo.
The ceremony was held on the occasion of Intermodal South America, an international trade exhibition with the focus on freight transport, logistics and foreign trade, where Antwerp was represented by the Port Authority and various private sector players.
“Brazil is a country with enormous potential that is expected to gain in significance in future, and the Antwerp port community is keen to further develop relations with this important trading partner,” the Port Authority noted in a statement.
Arnouts expects container freight in particular to experience strong growth: “Containers already make up 70 per cent of the total freight volume of around 7m tonnes annually, fairly evenly divided between imports and exports. And when it comes to container trade between Europe and South America, Antwerp is the market leader in the Hamburg – Le Havre range. In the case of Brazil the market share is as much as 45 per cent.”
