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The number of seagoing ships calling at Antwerp last year rose by 3.1%, according to data released by the local port authority. In total, there were 15,240 calls by seagoing ships in 2011.

The number of barge calls finished the year at 59,428, an increase of 4% compared with 2010.

The year-on-year increase in ship calls will be positive news for bunker suppliers at the Belgian port and in the ARA region. With annual bunker sales of approximately 6-7 million tonnes, Antwerp is the world's fifth largest bunker port after Singapore, Fujairah, Rotterdam and Busan.

Freight Volumes

The port of Antwerp handled 187,151,714 tonnes of freight last year, representing an increase of 5% in comparison with the 178.2 million tonnes handled in 2010. These definitive figures exceed the provisional estimates made at the end of December.

Container volume (both in TEU and in tonnage) hit record levels last year. Expressed in terms of tonnage, the container volume was up by 2.5%, to 105,109,107 tonnes. In TEU, the increase was 2.3%, to 8,664,243 TEU, a shade higher than the record level of 8,663,736 TEU in 2008.

Ro/ro freight also expanded last year, rising by 14% to 4,244,410 tonnes. Conventional/breakbulk was up by 14.1%, to 12,695,805 tonnes. The increase was said to be mainly due to the large rise in the volume of steel products (up 28.8%), the mainstay of this segment. The volume of fruit rose by 2.9%, although paper and cellulose were down by 24.5%.

The volume of bulk freight was up again in 2011, rising by 7.1% compared with the previous year. The increase was attributed to the large expansion in liquid bulk.

2011 was in fact an all-time record year for liquid bulk, which was up by 12.2% to 46,016,132 tonnes. The volume of oil derivatives and chemicals expanded too, by 19.6% and 3.1% respectively, while the amount of crude oil handled was down by 3.5%.

Dry bulk for its part did less well than last year, falling by 3.5% to 19,086,260 tonnes. Growth figures were produced by coal (up 4.4%), cement (2.8%) and sand and gravel (8.8%). On the other hand, declines were noted in ore (down 13.6%), grain (7%), fertilisers (5.1%) and scrap metal (17.3%).