The overall freight volume handled by Port of Antwerp increased from January through September 2019 by 1.1% in comparison with the same period last year. The container volume rose by as much as 6.4%. On the other hand, the slowdown in the world economy cut the growth rate of more volatile trade flows.
Port of Antwerp is making efforts to become the sustainable port of the future. This is the message of the fifth Sustainability Report, which states that development of the port must go hand-in-hand with the largest possible contribution to society.
Port of Antwerp has ordered construction of a tug powered by hydrogen, the first in the world. This ‘Hydrotug’ is driven by combustion engines that burn hydrogen in combination with diesel. The motors also comply with the very strictest standard, the EU Stage V.
The Moravian-Silesian Region, Statutory City of Ostrava, the Railway Administration Authority (SŽDC), Concens Investments and Antwerp Port Authority will collaborate to develop a new container terminal in the Mošnov industrial zone. On September 18, 2019 they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to kick-start this new project, called the Mosnov Multimodal Transport Terminal.
The energy transition and digitisation are the two strategic challenges facing large industrial ports. In addition, the EU can offer port authorities and industrial clusters significant incentives to achieve the transition toward the CO2-neutral ports of the future. For this reason, Antwerp and Rotterdam Port Authorities will organise a joint event for European policy makers, with contributions from experts from the world of science, industry and logistics.
The SAFIR consortium of partners conducted tests to the first simultaneous drone flights in Sint-Truiden DronePort, for among other things package deliveries, inspection flights and emergency situations. The Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) chose SAFIR to demonstrate integrated drone traffic management for a broad range of drone operations in Belgium.
The newly appointed British ambassador Martin Shearman visited the Port of Antwerp, figuring Brexit high on the agenda. According to the Port, the uncertainty over Brexit continues, and there will be radical changes in the transport of goods between the EU and the UK. The Port of Antwerp also expects a modal shift from ferry to container transport by short-sea shipping.
A new round of the EU-Egypt Energy Dialogue takes place with the kick off of cooperation between the Ministry of Petroleum and the Port of Antwerp. Namely, several topics of common interest were discussed in order to advance the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation in energy that was signed between the EU and Egypt in April 2018.
The ‘MSC Katya R’ of 4,112 TEU is one of the seven ships that MSC operates between Ecuador and Northern Europe. The ships will serve Moín on a weekly basis and Antwerp will now become the first European unloading port, before Rotterdam and Bremerhaven.
After two record monthly results in April and May, with more than 1 million TEU, the Belgian Port of Antwerp closed the second quarter with a strong month in June. The total freight volume handled by the Port was up 0.7% during the first six months compared with the same period last year.
