After nine months, the port of Antwerp-Bruges has recorded total goods throughput of 210.5 million tons. Container handling, in particular, is growing strongly.
Container throughput increased by 6.8% to 10.15 million TEU. In the third quarter, growth was as high as 12.3%. The Belgian twin port’s market share in the North Range climbed by 0.8 percentage points to 30.7% compared to 2023.
Almost one in ten shipping containers handled is a reefer container. In the first nine months of 2024, the number of full reefer containers increased by 9.7% and accounted for 8.5% of total container traffic. Thanks to its strategic location, fast sea connections and specialised terminals, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges confirms its strong position in this freight segment.
After the first nine months of the year, total throughput in Antwerp-Bruges was 4.8% down on the same period last year. Handling of iron and steel fell slightly by 0.6 %. Products such as timber (-32.9 %), paper and cellulose (-22.6 %) and building materials (-36.9 %) were also down, while non-containerised handling of fruit, vegetables and other refrigerated goods rose by 4.1 %.
Antwerp loses out on coal and LNG
Roll-on/roll-off traffic fell by 5.5 %. The throughput of high & heavy (-23.5%) and trucks (-10.3%) fell, as did the throughput of used cars (-42.6%). After a strong increase in 2022 and 2023, the transport of new cars fell by 11.4% in the first nine months of this year.
The handling of dry bulk goods fell by 1.4%, mainly due to a sharp decline in the handling of hard coal (-55.3%). Liquid bulk was down 2.5 %, which is attributable to lower volumes of liquid fuels (-8.9 %) and LNG (-10.2 %). Diesel throughput in particular (-23.1%) declined due to weak demand, while LPG (+8.8%), heating oil (+8.4%), naphtha (+2.9%) and petrol (+2.3%) recorded growth.
Chemical handling rose by 9.3%, which is attributable to a sharp increase in the handling of biofuels (+52.5%). Even without this effect, there was growth (+7%). Chemical gases (+9.5 %) and basic chemicals (+8.6 %) also posted positive figures. Despite this recovery, the European chemical sector remains under pressure due to high energy, raw material and wage costs combined with low global demand.
In the first nine months of 2024, 15,015 ocean-going vessels called at the port, a decrease of 2 %. The gross tonnage of these ships fell by 4.8% to 472.45 million BT.
