Port of Antwerp ends 2016 with growth of 2.7 percent in freight

Jan 18, 2017: The port of Antwerp has handled a total freight volume of 214,057,529 tonnes in 2016, up 2.7 percent on the previous year.

At 4.1 percent the growth in container volume is even more pronounced: after 12 months the figure stood at 117,909,533 tonnes of containerised freight. Expressed in terms of standard containers (twenty-foot equivalent units) the total of 10,037,318 TEU has risen above the 10 million TEU mark for the first time in the history of the port.

However, the conventional breakbulk and dry bulk segment at the port has witnessed decline in the year 2016.

The container segment experienced strong growth both in tonnes and in the number of containers. In terms of TEU the number of containers handled last year rose by 4.0 percent, while in terms of tonnage the figure was slightly higher at 4.1 percent. The fact that the growth was 0.1 percent lower than at the end of the previous year was due to the thick mist that blanketed the port during the last days of December and caused delays for some large container carriers.

The volume of ro/ro cargo for its part was down by 1.8 percent to 4,568,874 tonnes, with the number of cars handled falling by 2.8 percent to 1,189,563. Conventional breakbulk experienced a similar drop, down 2.0 percent to 9,803,718 tonnes at the end of 2016.

The liquid bulk volume expanded during the past 12 months by 3.8 percent to 69,224,501 tonnes. Oil derivatives were up by as much as 7.1 percent, to 51,310,284 tonnes. In the meantime there was further grown in the amount of chemicals, up 1.1 percent to 13,592,806 tonnes. However imports and exports of crude oil fell over the course of the year, finishing down 17.4 percent at 3,977,722 tonnes.

The dry bulk volume decreased by 9.1 percent to 12,550,903 tonnes. The volume of coal handled during the past 12 months came to 1,042,383 tonnes, 34.2 percent less than the previous year. The ore volume also fell by 10.5 percent, to 2,115,868 tonnes.