Port of Antwerp throughput up 2.0% in first half year
The port of Antwerp handled 95,662,759 tonnes of freight during the first six months of this year, an increase of 2.0% in comparison with the same period in 2012, said in the company's press release. Liquid bulk in particular showed strong growth, especially petroleum derivatives. “In combination with the investments recently announced, these half-year figures lead us to be cautiously optimistic for the first semester," declared Port Authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx.
The volume of dry and liquid bulk together rose by 12.1% to 36,480,282 tonnes. The dry bulk volume contracted by 31.6% to 7,231,296 tonnes, mainly due to stocks being run down in various North-West European ports. Import volumes are expected to pick up again in the coming months. Liquid bulk on the other hand was up by 33.1% to 29,248,986 tonnes. The volumes of crude oil and oil derivatives in particular sent the figures soaring. The rise is largely due to the new Sea Tank Terminal 510 and Independent Belgian Refinery, which were started up again after Gunvor acquired them and made heavy investments. But most of the other oil product terminals also noted sharp increases.
The Antwerp oil and chemical sector has benefited from a steady stream of investments in recent years. In the tank storage sector companies such as Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerpen, Sea Tank Terminal, ATPC, LBC, Vopak, ADPO, NoordNatie Odfjell Terminal and ITC Rubis Terminal Antwerpen have invested heavily in storage capacity for oil products, chemicals and gases. The growth is therefore largely due to the continuing investments in the port of Antwerp. Gunvor, ExxonMobil, Lanxess, BASF, FRX Polymers, Ineos Oxide and Evonik Degussa and others besides have been investing heavily in their Antwerp sites. During the past ten years the volume of shipping freight for tank storage companies has expanded by 151%, while during the same period the number of tank storage terminals has risen by 40%, to 15 in all. The total tank storage capacity has more than doubled, to 6.3 million m³. Furthermore various tank storage companies are making large investments that will drive the capacity still higher.
Production companies have also been investing steadily in their Antwerp sites. In addition to Gunvor, Lanxess, BASF, Ineos Oxide, FRX Polymers and Evonik Degussa, which are all currently investing in Antwerp, Total, Ferro, Kuwait Petroleum International and Praxair have recently announced large investment projects. Moreover ExxonMobil among others has investment projects in the planning stage.
The many planned investments will significantly boost this capacity even more, further strengthening the position that Antwerp already holds as the largest integrated petrochemical cluster in Europe. The added value contributed by transhipment and handling of liquid bulk has also increased enormously in recent years, thanks to the introduction of highly specialised tank technology that has served as the basis for starting up numerous semi-industrial processes. The future prospects too are very promising: Total, Kuwait Petroleum International and Praxair, for example, have recently announced large investment projects in Antwerp.
The container volume fell slightly during the past quarter: expressed in terms of standard containers (twenty-foot equivalent units) it came to 4,291,219 TEU. This is 1.7% less than in 2012 when the volume came to 4,363,403 TEU. Expressed in tonnage the volume contracted by 3.7% to 51,512,611 tonnes, down from 53,481,408 tonnes in the same period last year. Nevertheless the port of Antwerp still retains its place as the second-largest container port in the Le Havre – Hamburg range, behind Rotterdam but ahead of Hamburg (see graphic 1).
In the conventional breakbulk sector 5,352,352 tonnes of freight was loaded and unloaded, down by 0.4% compared with the same period in 2012. Despite this Antwerp still keeps its position as the largest breakbulk port in the range (see graphic 2). The ro/ro volume for its part was down by 3.8% to 2,317,514 tonnes, although the number of cars handled increased by 5.6% to 652,038.
During the first six months of 2013 a total of 7,234 seagoing ships called at the port of Antwerp, down by 1.7% compared with the same period last year. On the other hand the gross tonnage rose by 3.5% to 163.5 million, showing that the size of ships calling at Antwerp is increasing. In comparison with the first half of 2012, this year 35% more container carriers of 13,000 TEU or more put into the port of Antwerp (see graphic 3). Only last week the Cosco Pride, a container carrier in the fleet operated by the Chinese shipping company Cosco with a LOA of 366 metres, successfully completed a test trip from the Deurganck dock with a draught of 14.9 metres. The trial was a boost not only for the shipping company but indeed for all the partners in the nautical chain. “In addition to the draught achieved, the flexibility and professionalism demonstrated by all the partners involved are an excellent advertisement for Antwerp, which combines its advantages as a seaport with its geographical location near to the European hinterland,” declared a Port Authority spokesperson. And today (Wednesday) the container carrier the Xin Ya Zhou is due to berth in the Deurganck dock at the Antwerp Gateway terminal, as the first in the new AEX1 Far East service operated by China Shipping. Starting this autumn the Maersk shipping company will replace the 8,400 vessels in its AE2 service (which also calls at Antwerp) with units of 13,000 TEU. In a subsequent phase vessels of the Emma Maersk class (15,500 TEU), which already visited Antwerp at the beginning of last year, will be transferred to the AE2 service.
Now that definitive approval has been given to the Regional Land Use Plan, which defines the borders of the port expansion on the left bank of the Scheldt and the port redevelopment on the right bank, the lights are at green for a whole series of large investment projects which have been held back until this moment. But for potential investors too the availability of 1,000 hectares for development is a very attractive prospect. Exactly what use is to be made of this zone will be determined at a later stage. In the meantime the Port Authority has announced its intention of buying the General Motors site, at a price set by experts at 43,600,000 euros. On this 90 hectare site the Port Authority would prefer to see development of new industrial activities with high added value, in consultation and collaboration with the Flemish Government.