Port Antwerp expected to break cargo handling record by year’s end

The 2014 result was in turn a 4.3% increase over the previous year.

Antwerp also reported breaking further Port records for transhipment cargo at 9m teu.

The news represents an increase of 8% in transhipment cargo, and comes in spite of poor results in container trades throughout the year in a market rife with overcapacity. As a result, the Port authority claims, Antwerp will outperform competitors Rotterdam and Hamburg, the number 1 and 3 ports respectively in North-West Europe.

The Port introduced measures to incentivise use of low-sulphur fuels by cutting port dues as much as 30% for vessels using LNG as fuel. Antwerp also undertook its first LNG bunkering operation on a seagoing vessel, by Chemgas Shipping-owned Sefarina, back in September.

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