North Sea Port sea freight transhipments in 1H’19 totalled 36.6 mln tonnes, up 2% YoY
North Sea Port says its sea freight transhipments in the first half of 2019 totalled 36.6 mln tonnes. With its limited growth of 2% compared to the same period in 2018, this is once again the best semester ever.
The 2% growth in the first semester of this year is in line with expectations and the budget. North Sea Port is a true bulk port. Bulk cargo makes up three-quarters of sea freight. The dry bulk sector saw the highest growth. Container handling also greatly improved.
In terms of tonnage, dry bulk accounts for the largest part of cargo volume with 17.5 million tonnes. Its growth of 9% reflects the strong building construction sector (sand) and iron ore.
With an increase of 550,000 tonnes (81%), container transshipment once again showed very strong growth and reached 1.2 million tonnes. Some companies in North Sea Port managed to attract new shipping services in the past two years, which has a positive effect on the transshipment figures.
After a strong increase in the previous year, liquid bulk has fallen by 4%, mainly with respect to petroleum fuels and energy gases. The liquid bulk segment comes to a total of 10.4 million tonnes.
The transshipment of general cargo falls by 10% to 5.6 million tonnes. More and more goods in the food sector and other sectors are transported by container, which reduces the share of general cargo. Transshipments of rolling cargo (ro/ro) declined by 11% (total 1.7 million tonnes).
North Sea Port is slightly optimistic about the prospects for the second half of the year.
North Sea Port is the 60-kilometer cross-border port area from Vlissingen and Borsele and Terneuzen in the Netherlands to Ghent 32 kilometers in the Flemish / Belgian inland. Since 1 January, North Sea Port has been the merged port of Dutch Zeeland Seaports (with Vlissingen and Terneuzen) and the Flemish Port Authority of Ghent.