In 2018, cargo handling at the port of Antwerp (Belgium) can total 235 million tonnes, up 5-6% versus the result of 2017 (223 million tonnes), IAA PortNews correspondent cites Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of Antwerp Port Authority, as saying on the sidelines of the seminar dedicated to the port of Antwerp (Saint-Petersburg , 26 April 2018).
“We are expecting throughput growth of some 5-6%, like in the previous year. We also take into account the results of the Q1’2018 (58,329,000 tonnes – Ed.) which showed a growth of some 7%”, said Jacques Vandermeiren.
According to him, cooperation with Russia is very important since it ranks the second among the most significant partners worldwide.
“We have been paying much attention to partnership with Russia for many years. We have established this partnership before establishing similar relations with the USA, Great Britain, China and Turkey, which, along with Russia, are the key partners of the port of Antwerp. Cargo turnover between the ports of Russia and Antwerp is as high as 14 million tonnes per year and it is growing”, said CEO of Antwerp Port Authority.
According to Jacques Vandermeiren, cargo turnover between the ports of Russia and Antwerp totaled 14.2 million tonnes in 2017 including 3.3 million tonnes of containerized cargo (250,604 TEUs), 9.8 million tonnes of oil products, 438,000 tonnes of metal, 406,000 tonnes of fertilizers, 138,000 tonnes of equipment, 93,000 tonnes of chemical products. “It is not an ideally balanced cargo turnover since exports from Russia to Antwerp are much higher”, he said.
In his turn, Aleksandr Golovin, Chairman of Saint-Petersburg Government’s Transport Committee, said that the topical interest of Russian ports today is transshipment of containerized cargo to river going ships for its transportation to the Russia hinterland. In his opinion, it would be reasonable to adopt this experience from the Belgian specialists.
“For Russian specialists, it can be especially good to study the port of Antwerp’s experience in transshipment of containers from ocean going vessels to river ships with their further transportation along rivers to remote areas of Europe. That has traditionally been the strong point of the port of Antwerp and Saint-Petersburg would do well to learn from it”, emphasized Aleksandr Golovin.
The Port of Antwerp (Belgium) is a port in the heart of Europe accessible to capesize ships. It is Europe’s second-largest seaport, after Rotterdam. Antwerp stands at the upper end of the tidal estuary of the Scheldt. The estuary is navigable by ships of more than 100,000 Gross Tons as far as 80 km inland. The Port of Antwerp's inland location provides a more central location in Europe than the majority of North Sea ports. Antwerp's docks are connected to the hinterland by rail, road, and river and canal waterways. As a result, the port of Antwerp has become one of Europe's largest seaports, ranking second behind Rotterdam by total freight shipped.
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Port of Antwerp freight volume up 7.1% to 58,328,678 tonnes in Q1 2018 >>>>