Port of Antwerp new pic 2016

The port of Antwerp in Belgium has continued what the marketing authority has described as its 'excellent performance' throughout the year, handling 161.7m tonnes of freight in the first nine months of the year, up 3.3 per cent on the same period lof 2015.

Container volumes in the first three quarters came to more than 7.5m TEUs, representing growth of 4 per cent, thus 'further expanding Antwerp’s market share for containers in the Hamburg-Le Havre range', according to the group.

Container volumes rose during the first nine months by 3.7 per cent, finishing at 88.6m tonnes. In terms of the number of TEU handled the figure came to 7.6m, an increase of 4 per cent.

The number of seagoing ships was up by 1 per cent, with the number of calls totaling 10,894 as of 1 October.