Freight News, Logistics, Sea


Port of Antwerp-Bruges on the front line

[ January 27, 2025   //   ]

Ports are finding themselves in the front line of the war on drugs and geopolitical conflicts, Antwerp-Bruges chief executive Jacques Vandermeiren told a press conference to announce the Belgian gateway’s annual results for 2024.

In a year with many challenges, Antwerp-Bruges scored a notable success –intercepted illegal drugs in the port fell for the first time in ten years, although they still totalled 442 tonnes. The success was due to the port’s Certified Pick-up programme which vets consignments before they are delivered to hauliers or consignees.

However, Antwerp-Bruges’ success must be tempered by the fact that seizures at other smaller ports in the region had increased as drug dealers sought less well scrutinised ports, said Vandermeiren. “It’s the waterbed effect,” he told the conference.

It was important for Antwerp-Bruges to cooperate not just with smaller ports in the region but the other major gateways, as well as stepping up inceptions in countries of origin.

Ports are also at the frontline of another kind of war, which Vandermeiren likened to state halfway between the peaceful conditions that the industry had got used to over many decades and all-out war. Not only were Antwerp-Bruges’ and other gateways data centres under a barrage of cyberhacking attempts by the agents of Russia and its allies, but there had also been an upsurge of unusual manoeuvres around windfarms, pipelines and other installations. Discussions are ongoing between ports, ministries of defence, NATO and the private sector on how best to protect these vital assets from unwelcome interference.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also affected the port by cutting off a supply of cheap gas, as well as removing a major export market. Further afield, the attacks on shipping in the Red Sea had extended sailing times and reduced effective shipping capacity.

Meanwhile, the world was waiting to see how far President Trump would go on imposing import tariffs on overseas goods. “We are now living in a world organised less by rules, by the World Trade Organisation and others, and more by trading blocs such as the US, Europe or the BRICS, which is something that we as ports do not like,” Vandermeiren said.

While much of the world was mired in recession or reduced growth, Antwerp-Bruges’ traffic had nevertheless shown an increase for the first time in two years, of 2.3% overall, while container traffic was up 8.1% in TEUs and 8.9% in tonnage terms. The port of Zeebruge, with which Antwerp announced a partnership in 2022, enjoyed no less than 52% growth in containers, though from a much lower base than Antwerp, which remains one of Europe’s key box hubs. Box traffic through Antwerp-Bruges has now made up for the loss of the Russian market three years ago.

R ro traffic was down 3.4%, a decline being especially noticeable at the end of the year due to EU import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and bad weather.

Antwerp-Bruges’ share of the total north-west Europe freight market also rose, by 0.7%. its 30.6% share is now fractionally below Rotterdam’s 31.4%.

The UK remains Antwerp-Bruge’s biggest national trading partner and it will be important to see how this will evolve, said Vandermeiren. Some 70% of the port’s trade with the UK is now exports, something that was not the case a few years ago.

Ireland is also an important market and direct trade with Antwerp-Bruges has risen sharply since Brexit.

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