Europe’s second-largest seaport enjoyed a strong first half of the year. However, throughput has been declining since August due to uncertain conditions.
After a strong first half of the year, throughput at the Belgian twin port of Antwerp-Bruges has slowed since August. The ongoing uncertainty in trade with the USA has had a particularly negative impact.
In the first nine months of 2025, throughput at the port amounted to 202.6 million tons, which corresponds to a decline of 3.8% compared to the same period last year. The handling of general cargo (containers, conventional general cargo and the RoRo segment) increased by 1.3%, while the handling of dry and liquid bulk cargo fell by 12.8%.
After a positive trend until the summer, container traffic weakened from August onwards and fell by 2.4% compared to 2024, which, according to a statement from the port, is “partly due to the final expiry of the old alliances”. The temporary overlap of old and new calls led to a decline; however, there were also significantly fewer bottlenecks, shorter waiting times and faster transitions to the hinterland. In the container segment, the bottom line is slight growth: +1.1% in tonnage, +1.6% in TEU.
The Belgian port’s market share in the Hamburg-Le Havre range fell by 0.7% points to 29.8% in the first half of 2025, mainly due to limited terminal capacity. This bottleneck is to be eliminated with the ECA project (Extra Container Capacity Antwerp). The poor predictability of schedules and the various strikes and actions continue to affect operational reliability.
Uncertain trade climate depresses results
Conventional general cargo traffic remained stable after nine months thanks to a recovery in steel imports, while exports remained under pressure due to lower exports to the USA and Mexico, among others – the keywords here are port charges and the customs dispute. Dry bulk (-8.9%) declined, mainly due to lower fertilizer shipments, which was partially offset by higher imports from Russia and Morocco shortly before the introduction of new EU tariffs. The RoRo segment grew by 3.3%, driven by rising imports of new cars from China – despite European import tariffs since the end of 2024 – and higher volumes of trucks and used cars.
Freight traffic with the USA, Antwerp-Bruges’ second most important trading partner, rose by 15% in the first nine months of 2025. According to a statement, this increase was mainly due to containers and liquid bulk. However, the effects of the US import tariffs have been felt since the summer: exports fell in the third quarter, particularly steel exports, which were more than a third lower than in the second quarter.
Imports remain stable for the time being, with a strong increase in bulk liquids and even a tripling of LNG volumes. “This confirms the role of Port of Antwerp-Bruges as a gateway for alternative energy flows replacing Russian gas,” it says. Container imports from the US also increased by 8%, although growth has slowed slightly since August.
“The slight decline in our market share can mainly be explained by the bottlenecks in the first half of the year,” said Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. “The volumes were sufficient, but not the available terminal capacity. Restructuring within the shipping alliances has also had a temporary impact on the distribution of traffic between the ports. As soon as additional capacity is available, we expect our market share to recover. However, the quarterly figures also show the resilience of Port of Antwerp-Bruges in an extremely volatile economic climate.”
