During the first semester, the Port of Antwerp dealt with more than 118 million tons of merchandise, a record, and an increase by 6.5% with regard to the same period last year. Containers’ traffic remains the main growth engine, reveals a press release published last Friday.
After a record first trimester, the first six months of the year confirmed the trend. In total, 118,648,143 tons of merchandise transited through Antwerp. Containers’ traffic (EVP) increased by 8.3%, to 5,567,905 twenty-foot containers. In May, the one million EVP mark was passed for the first time.
“These figures confirm our world actor’s role and our port’s continuous power of attraction,’’ commented the port’s CEO, Jacques Vandermeiren. “But they also confirm our predictions that we would quickly reach our maximal capacity.’’ Mr. Vandermeiren insists in consequence on the urgency to develop additional capacity for the locks.
The Brussels Times
