January 17 - The Port of Antwerp handled a total freight volume of 214.06 million tonnes in 2016, up 2.7 percent on the previous year.
However, conventional breakbulk experienced a drop of 2.0 percent year-on-year during 2016 to 9.8 million tonnes.
The volume of ro-ro cargo was also down by 1.8 percent to 4.57 million tonnes, with the number of cars handled falling by 2.8 percent to 1.19 million.
According to the port, there was a 4.1 percent growth in container volume, having handled 117.91 million tonnes of containerised freight. Expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (teu) the total of 10.04 million teu was the first time the gateway surpassed the 10 million teu mark.
The port claims that a total of 14,473 seagoing ships called at the Port of Antwerp in the course of 2016, 0.4 percent more in comparison with the previous year and the gross tonnage was up 9.1 percent to 401.09 million tonnes.
Dry bulk volumes dropped by 9.1 percent to 12.55 million tonnes while the volume of coal handled during 2016 came to 1.04 million tonnes, 34.2 percent less than in 2015. The ore volume also fell by 10.5 percent, to 2.12 million tonnes.
