Between January and September 2008, the port of Antwerp handled more than 144m tonnes of freight, according to the Antwerp Port Authority. This represents an increase of 7.2 per cent compared with the first nine months of 2007.

Freight volumes in the first three quarters were up by 10m tonnes compared with the same period last year, both on the import side (up 7.9 per cent) and on the export side (up 6.3 per cent).

Container freight increased by 9 per cent to 6.7m TEU, helped by a substantial increase in traffic of 30 per cent at the Deurganck dock.

Conventional/breakbulk traffic, on the other hand, fell. Between January and September, 15.3 per cent less was handled, despite fruit volumes rising by 3.6 per cent.

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