With Turkish import/export volume of nearly 11 million tonnes
With a Turkish import/export volume of nearly 11 million tonnes of freight annually, Antwerp has a market share of 55% among the other ports in the Hamburg – Le Havre range.
Turkey is the fourth-largest trading partner of the port of Antwerp, sending mainly containers (88%) followed by breakbulk, ro/ro and chemicals. In the other direction, exports to Turkey are largely containers (77%) and breakbulk.
large investments are being made in further developing the port’s facilities, both by government and by private investors. In March 2016 Antwerp will open a new sea lock with a length of 500 m, a width of 68 m and a depth of 17.80 below the local datum point, making it the largest lock in the world, easily able to handle the largest ships afloat. At the same time work is going ahead on a new commercial zone of more than 1,000 hectares on the left bank of the Scheldt, offering space for maritime, industrial and logistics activities. The first ships will be able to moor there in 2021 at a new tidal lock now being built to handle the expected growth in the container volume.
Last year Antwerp handled just under 9 million TEU. Whether or not it will pass the 9 million TEU mark this year remains to be seen, but the figures for the first quarter already point in this direction, with the number of TEU handled up by 9.5% compared with the same period last year. On the logistics side heavy investments are being made by private players, resulting in additional terminal capacity and state-ofthe-art facilities for handling all sorts of bulk freight.
Source: The Port of Antwerp
