Court rejects case against port of Antwerp expansion

Court rejects case against port of Antwerp expansion    The Antwerp port authority said that the Court of Arbitration has rejected a claim made by local residents to stop the development of the giant Deurganckdok container terminal complex at the port.
   The court decision allows the 5.5-million-TEU-a-year container terminal to be built. The first terminal of the Deurganckdok container facility is scheduled to be completed in 2005. The remaining phases of the project are expected to be operational in 2007.
   “The Court of Arbitration threw out one by one the objections of the various petitioners because of the exceptional and general strategic importance of the realization of the Deurganckdok project,” the port authority said.
   The residents had sought to annul an emergency decree adopted in 2001 by the Flemish Parliament to resume work on the Deurganckdok.
   In the meantime, the western quay of the Deurganckdok port facility has now been completed over a length of 1,280 meters, and the quay wall on the eastern side has been entirely completed over a length of 800 meters.
   Antwerp is Europe’s third largest container port.