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Antwerp up 5pc to 9.21 million TEU in first 9 months - on Dutch congestion

BELGIUM's Port of Antwerp posted a five per cent increase in container volume in the first nine months of the year to 6.7 million TEU, reports Seatrade Global.

Dutch rival Rotterdam, Europe's busiest box port, posted a slower 4.2 per cent growth to 9.21 million TEU, but attributes the slowdown to the congestion that diverted cargo to Antwerp.

Overall tonnage at Antwerp came to 148.3 million tonnes during the first three quarters, a 3.7 per cent increase on the same period of last year.

Antwerp is expected to surpass last year's record freight volume of 190.8 million tonnes, boosted by strong growth in containers and liquid bulk.

The port's container volumes were up six per cent to 81.1 million tonnes, a five per cent, that in box terms increased to 6.7 million TEU.

In the conventional sector, fruit imports fell sharply by 15.4 per cent to 795,044 tonnes, because less fruit was moved in reefer ships and more in reefer boxes.

Crude oil was the only product in liquid bulk that recorded a drop in volumes, falling 0.6 per cent to 3.4 million tonnes.

Oil derivatives and chemicals both managed growth of 4.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent, leaving the overall rise in volume for liquid bulk at 3.8 per cent to 46.1 million tonnes.

Dry bulk was down 6.5 per cent at 10.2 million tonnes hit mainly by coal volumes that fell to 1.1 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2014, a 39.6 per cent drop compared to the first three quarters of last year.

A 2.3 per cent decline in the number of ships to 10,526 was offset by their larger size, resulting in a 1.9 per cent increase in tonnage to 251.6 million gross tonnes.