Antwerp grows 2% in first half year

Container volumes fell slightly during the past quarter to 4.3m teu, 1.7% less than in 2012.  Expressed in tonnage, volume contracted by 3.7% to 51.5m tonnes, down from 53.4m tonnes in the same period last year. Nevertheless the Port Authority stresses that Antwerp retains its place as the second-largest container port in the Le Havre – Hamburg range, behind Rotterdam but ahead of Hamburg.

Break-bulk remained almost static at 5.3m tonnes, down by only 0.4% compared with 2012, while Ro/Ro volumes were down by 3.8% to 23m tonnes, although the number of cars handled increased by 5.6% to 652,038.

In comparison with the first half of 2012, this year 35% more container carriers of 13,000 teu and over called at the port, as the trend by shipping companies to operate larger ships continues.