Antwerp container volume and tonnage up

The Port of Antwerp said Thursday that container volume through the first three quarters of the year grew 9 percent over the same period in 2007, to 6.6 million TEUs.

The port attributed much of the growth to its Deurganck dock facility, which saw a 30 percent increase in volume for the nine months of 2008, to 1.4 million TEUs.

Overall freight tonnage increased 7.2 percent in Antwerp in the first three quarters, highlighted by a 17.7 percent rise in dry bulk cargo and a 9 percent increase in all bulk cargoes. Conventional and breakbulk cargoes, which account for less than 10 percent of the port's volume, declined 15 percent in the first three quarters, mostly due to a drop in steel. 

Source: American Shipper