A ship carrying 1,700 pieces of military equipment from the United States was unloaded in the Port of Antwerp on Wednesday as part of an American military rotation in Belgium.
Two American ships, the Endeavour and the Defender, arrived in Belgium on 3 and 4 March as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
Atlantic Resolve, initiated after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, represents the US’s ongoing commitment to Europe through rotational deployments to strengthen NATO’s support and enhance the readiness, interoperability, and relationships of allied forces.
“This is not a massive build-up, but a continual presence on the eastern flank,” explained Colonel Felies, logistics operations chief. The American equipment and personnel will be transported by train and road through civilian companies to Germany, and then directed further east. Currently, around 100,000 US soldiers are mobilised in Europe.
NATO partner countries commonly utilise various European ports and infrastructures for personnel rotations and equipment transportation, so the arrival of American personnel or equipment in Antwerp or Zeebrugge is routine.
This rotation highlights Belgium’s crucial role as a strategic logistics hub in Western Europe, marking the fifth such operation within a year.
Conducted under the Host Nation Support (HNS) agreement between the US and Belgium, the operation involves close collaboration between the American military, Belgian Defence, and civil authorities. “We fully support this rotation in Antwerp,” declared Belgian Defence, emphasising its strategic importance.
New Defence Minister Theo Francken, currently on an economic mission in India, will soon present a plan for additional defence investments to the government. Francken wants to demonstrate the necessity of certain investments and collaborations.
Francken previously indicated that Belgium should allocate 2% of its GDP to Defence by the NATO summit in June, rather than by 2029 as per the coalition agreement, subject to government approval.
