Port of Antwerp’s volumes grow in first half of 2016

The Belgian port, which has been seeing a surge in ultra large containerships, handled 5 million TEUs during the first half of 2016, weighing 59.8 million metric tons, a year-over-year increase of 4.4 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.    The Port of Antwerp’s total cargo throughput for the first half of 2016 rose 3.6 percent from the corresponding period in 2015 to 108.3 million metric tons, driven by increases in container and liquid bulk shipments.
   During the first half of the year, the Belgian port saw a surge in ultra large containerships compared to the first half of 2015.
   Overall, for the first half of 2016, the port handled 5 million TEUs, weighing 59.8 million metric tons, a year-over-year increase of 4.4 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. In addition to over a dozen intra-North Europe fully cellular container services, the port is frequented by a total of 59 fully cellular container services that extend outside North Europe, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. The port is also called by services that operate with multi-purpose, reefer, open hatch, roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro), ConRo, and pure car/truck carriers.
   Meanwhile, liquid bulk volumes for the first half of 2016 jumped 8.4 percent year-over-year to 35.4 million metric tons, driven by an increase in oil derivatives.
   On the flip side, dry bulk volumes, which declined due to lower coal and ore shipments, tumbled 14.7 percent from the first half of 2015 to 6.1 million metric tons.
   In addition, ro-ro volumes reached 2.3 million metric tons, while conventional breakbulk volumes totaled 4.8 million metric tons, a year-over-year drop of 3.7 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.