The port of Antwerp's bid to revive its breakbulk business suffered a serious setback with the loss of a 750,000 metric tons-a-year contract.
Confirmation that the contract to handle imports of Brazilian wood pulp has been won by the nearby Dutch port of Vlissingen came just weeks after Antwerp unveiled a major initiative to boost its share of the European breakbulk market.
The Brazilian contract, which will switch to Vlissingen at the end of May, accounts for around 7 percent of Antwerp's 10.5 million metric tons of breakbulk traffic in 2009 and will be difficult to replace quickly amid increased competition for conventional cargo in the Le Havre-Hamburg port range.
High port charges and inflexible labor have been blamed for the loss of the Brazilian pulp imports which were handled at the Westerlund terminal.
The wood pulp reportedly is being shipped by Brazilian paper group Fibria on breakbulk vessels operated by Norway's Saga Forest Carriers.
Antwerp remains Europe's leading breakbulk port but its market share has fallen following the slump in steel shipments, which is largely responsible for the slide in traffic from 19.8 million metric tons in 2007 to 10.5 million metric tons last year.
Breakbulk traffic declined to 2.6 million metric tons in the first quarter from just under 3 million metric tons in the same period in 2009. Steel shipments plunged over 21 percent while fruit, wood cellulose and paper cargoes stabilized.
Container traffic, by contrast, surged almost 16 percent to 2.013 million 20-foot units, just short of the 10-year high of 2.075 million TEUs in the first quarter of 2008.
The Antwerp Port Authority gave breakbulk cargoes a 10 percent discount on 2010 harbor dues which were frozen at 2009 levels.
In February the Authority signed "covenants" with local stevedores, shippers, shipowners and freight forwarders committing them to taking action to boost tonnage in five key sectors -- steel, fruit, forest products, project cargo and roll-on, roll-off traffic.
The loss of the Brazilian contract is a setback for Euroports, the pan-European bulk and breakbulk stevedore that owns the Westerlund terminal, one of its four facilities in Antwerp.
But the contract is relatively small compared with Euroports total 55 million metric tons of traffic in 2009, including 15 million metric tons of breakbulk shipments.
Confirmation that the contract to handle imports of Brazilian wood pulp has been won by the nearby Dutch port of Vlissingen came just weeks after Antwerp unveiled a major initiative to boost its share of the European breakbulk market.
The Brazilian contract, which will switch to Vlissingen at the end of May, accounts for around 7 percent of Antwerp's 10.5 million metric tons of breakbulk traffic in 2009 and will be difficult to replace quickly amid increased competition for conventional cargo in the Le Havre-Hamburg port range.
High port charges and inflexible labor have been blamed for the loss of the Brazilian pulp imports which were handled at the Westerlund terminal.
The wood pulp reportedly is being shipped by Brazilian paper group Fibria on breakbulk vessels operated by Norway's Saga Forest Carriers.
Antwerp remains Europe's leading breakbulk port but its market share has fallen following the slump in steel shipments, which is largely responsible for the slide in traffic from 19.8 million metric tons in 2007 to 10.5 million metric tons last year.
Breakbulk traffic declined to 2.6 million metric tons in the first quarter from just under 3 million metric tons in the same period in 2009. Steel shipments plunged over 21 percent while fruit, wood cellulose and paper cargoes stabilized.
Container traffic, by contrast, surged almost 16 percent to 2.013 million 20-foot units, just short of the 10-year high of 2.075 million TEUs in the first quarter of 2008.
The Antwerp Port Authority gave breakbulk cargoes a 10 percent discount on 2010 harbor dues which were frozen at 2009 levels.
In February the Authority signed "covenants" with local stevedores, shippers, shipowners and freight forwarders committing them to taking action to boost tonnage in five key sectors -- steel, fruit, forest products, project cargo and roll-on, roll-off traffic.
The loss of the Brazilian contract is a setback for Euroports, the pan-European bulk and breakbulk stevedore that owns the Westerlund terminal, one of its four facilities in Antwerp.
But the contract is relatively small compared with Euroports total 55 million metric tons of traffic in 2009, including 15 million metric tons of breakbulk shipments.