Port of Brussels reached a record in 2018 concerning its cargo volumes, topping 5 million tonnes for the first time since the port’s construction, 25 years ago. The cargo traffic rose by 375.000 tonnes, by 7.7% over 2017. Yet, transit traffic was decreased by 15.000 tonnes, providing an overall increase of 5.2% and resulting to overall volume of cargo offloaded and onloaded at the port in 2018 to 7.3 million tonnes.
Specifically, according to the port, 2018’s shipment was equal to 680.000 trucks, avoiding 106.000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and saving euros in external costs.
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In addition, in 25 years the port managed to increase its traffic by 49%, meaning 1.7 million tonnes, while the transport traffic rose by 29%, 0.5 million tonnes.
The overall increase is due to the port’s effort made over the years to innovate and grow new kinds of traffic, such as containers, pallets, earth for sites, glass products, etc.
Furthermore, the small container terminal reached its own record in 2018, again, accomplishing 36.965 TEU units, a rise of 19% from 2017.
Containers are placed third, with construction material occupying a dominant position in Brussels port traffic, accounting for just over 60% of trade, followed by oil products, reaching the 23%.
Although exports remain less than imports, they increased by 31%.
Concluding, the Netherlands have remained by far the largest trade partner of Brussels Port, with 66% of traffic along waterways, followed by Belgium and Germany.
