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Antwerp boss eager to capitalise on 17% growth
21 May 2008
With container volumes continuing to climb rapidly, the Port of Antwerp has officially identified a site on the left bank of the Scheldt for future container expansion.
The port saw its box volumes increase by 16.5% to 8.1m teu last year. Within this, the Deurganck dock handled more than 1.5m teu in only its second full year of operation – and it is expected to handle between 2m teu and 2.3m teu this year, said port authority chief executive Eddy Bruyninckx to Port Strategy.
The land earmarked for development is the Saeftinghe area, north of the Deurganck Dock.
“This would be a dedicated container handling facility, bigger than the existing Deurganck Dock," said Mr Bruyninckx.
Meanwhile, Antwerp also remains focused on conventional general and break-bulk cargo, with three major investments under way.
“We have always been the number one conventional cargo port for northwest Europe and we still consider that to be very important business for the port – it creates added value and employment and it is labour intensive, so we are happy we will have at least three new projects linked to this area of business.”
These are the all-weather steel handling terminal, the DP World Breakbulk joint venture project at Churchill dock, and the extensive renovation of the port’s fruit wharf, including the construction of new storage facilities.
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