Following the COVID-19 pandemic situation, Port of Antwerp marked a slight increase by 0.4% in its total cargo volume during the first four months of 2020, in comparison to the same period last year.
Although other freight categories such as conventional breakbulk and ro/ro, still remain under pressure, container volume noted a growth.
In light of the above, Port of Antwerp said:
The number of calls by seagoing ships was also down but a number of container ships also carried more volume on average.
What is more, the port experienced a slight rose in its total freight volume during the period January-April 2020 compared with the same period last year.
Namely, container volume in April was down compared with April 2019 but experienced growth of 6.1% in TEU during 2020 overall.
The consequences of cancelled sailings will make themselves felt in the remainder of the second quarter. On the other hand there was a strong increase in empty boxes bound for China, which is a sign of recovery in production there.
…the port added.
Concerning the breakbulk category, it was reported a sharp decline of 15.7% in April and 29.1% in 2020 overall, due to the lack of steel and the lockdown of several industries.
Due to the lack of production in the automotive industry there were no imports of new cars from Asia, and exports of European cars were similarly at a standstill. The second-hand car market was also almost completely absent as a result of the corona crisis.
…Port of Antwerp continued.
Consequently, the total ro/ro volume dropped by 16.2% in the period January-April compared with the same period last year.
For the dry bulk sector, the port reported a little demand for coal following the mild winter and the shutdown of the steel industry.
At the same time, the liquid bulk volume remained down by 2.5% in 2020, mainly due to the lower demand for oil derivatives.
Concluding, volume of chemical products noted a growth of 0.6% during the first four months of this year compared with the same period in 2019.
