The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led many European countries to impose sanctions against Russia. In order to assess the impact of the ongoing crisis, the Port of Antwerp remains in close contact with customers and the competent authorities.
Monitoring
There is constant monitoring of the situation by Port of Antwerp, which is in close contact with customers and other stakeholders in the port community. In this way, it puts emphasis on the cooperation between the competent authorities, customs and the various terminals involved.
European measures
The Antwerp Port Authority does not have the authority to pursue an independent policy in response to the conflict. For example, the Port Authority cannot impose restrictions upon companies or ships. The Port Authority implements the policies of the Belgian and the European authorities.
As such, the export of a large number of goods including those which can be used for both civilian and military purposes (“dual use”) is prohibited. Containerised cargo bound for Russia is subject to additional scrutiny by customs. Furthermore, there is no ban on Russian-flagged or Russian-owned ships for the time being.
Facts & figures
The port of Antwerp has no major maritime goods flows with Ukraine. On the contrary, Russia was the 5th most important trade partner in 2021 with a throughput of 11.6 m tons (3.16 m tons of outbound and 8.5 m tons of inbound). This involved the following categories:
- Containers – 5.3 million tons (mainly plastics, wood, chemicals, automotive spare parts and paper)
- Liquid bulk – 4.8 million tons (mainly naphtha, diesel and fuel oil)
- Dry bulk – 700,000 tons (mainly fertilisers and coal)
- Conventional breakbulk – 650,000 tons (mainly steel imports)
