One of the world’s largest container vessels, ‘COSCO shipping Pisces’, that has a capacity of 20.000 TEU, was docked at Piraeus port on February 15, after voyaging for one month from China. This is the vessel’s first voyage, after its delivery on January 15.
The Federal Parliament of Belgium has proposed a target of 4GW of total installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 in the draft of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). Belgium assures of a total 2030 renewables target of 18.3%, which allegedly is in contrast to the country’s 2020 renewable energy target of 13%.
On January 28, a Dutch seafarer had a fatal accident, falling aboard the specialized fallpipe vessel ‘Simon Stevin’. Officials in Bruges, Belgium, are for the time being investigating the death of the seafarer, who was operating a crane using a remote control unit. Although he was immediately taken to the hospital, he did not survive.
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.
Spain’s Freire Shipyard is about to begin works on a new oceanographic research vessel for Belgian interests. The newbuild will replace the BELSPO-owned, 1984-built RV Belgica and will perform tasks related to oceanography, geology, sedimentology, fisheries, chemistry and hydrography. Freire aspires to launch the vessel in February 2020, with the handover planned in October 2020.
Ineos, a London-based chemicals company, opted for Port of Antwerp in Belgium, to use as a location to built two new petrochemical plants. The plan is based on a 3 billion euros investment and is to create 400 new jobs directly and five times that number indirectly, according to the port’s statement. The company aims to construct a propane dehydrogenation unit and an ethane cracker in Northwest Europe.
The European Commission has proposed, in two separate decisions, that Italy and Spain align their taxation of ports with State aid rules. The Commission remains committed to ensure a level playing field across the EU in this key economic sector.
The Port of Antwerp signed an agreement with Enabel, the Belgian development agency, to collaborate in order to achieve more sustainable development for ports in developing countries.
The European Commission has decided that reductions in compensation payments granted by the Port of Antwerp to two container terminal operators, were awarded on market terms. For this reason they do not involve State aid within the meaning of EU rules.
Ro/Ro traffic between Sweden and the continent are increasing, as volumes between Gothenburg and Belgium have risen for the ninth consecutive year. Namely, the forecast for 2018 expects a 10% increase for Ro/Ro units. An even further expansion of the service structure took place during the autumn, with the shipping companies linking up Spanish, Greek and Turkish ports to the growing European network.
