Antwerp

The port of Antwerp has confirmed that it handled just over 199m tonnes of freight in 2014, a rise of 4.3 per cent when compared with the previous year.

The new record had already been announced at the end of December, but the port said it is put into sharper focus by these confirmed figures.

Record growth was driven by the volume of containers (up 5.9 per cent) and liquid bulk (up 5.6 per cent), while there was a negative performance in conventional breakbulk (down 2 per cent) and dry bulk (down 6.1 per cent).

The container segment showsed robust growth both in tonnes and in number of boxes. The number of standard containers handled (twenty-foot equivalent units) was up by 4.7 per cent last year, finishing at 8.9m TEUs.

In terms of tonnage the figure is even more pronounced, up 5.9 per cent. The total volume of containers handled in 12 months clocked up at 108.3m tonnes.