BENELUX\\\
Issue 5 2016 - Freight Business Journal
Liège: Belgium’s best-kept
shipping secret
Asked to name Europe’s top shipping locations, Liège in the French-speaking Wallonian region of Belgium probably doesn’t come to mind very readily, writes Karen Thuermer. But with inland waterways playing an ever- increasing role, it is probably more important than most of us realise – especially now that governments are calling for more traffic to be moved off Europe’s overcrowded highways. The three largest inland river
ports in Europe are Duisburg (Germany), Paris and Liège (Belgium). Liège serves a
shiſts to waterway. “We welcome goods from Antwerp in 14 hours and Rotterdam in 24 hours,” Thiebaut says. “Our strategy is to service containers arriving daily. Northwest ports need to find solutions where containers can be closer to consumers. Rail, but also water helps alleviate congestion.” Liege is considered part of the
hinterland of some of Europe’s major northeast ports.
Besides
servicing Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge, waterborne traffic also travels via Liège to Dunkerque in France and to Germany via the Danube. As a result, €115m-worth
Services at the terminal include
packing and unpacking, storage, repair, cleaning, fumigation, and container washing. “Since all of these services can be done from Liege, containers can be shipped to Antwerp where they can be immediately transferred,” Thiebaut says. “This saves both time and money since it can all be done here.” Among Liege’s three trimodal
ports, Monsin has the advantage of being located at the mouth of the Albert Canal. One of its three docks is covered and is considered the terminal’s main asset. “There are only a few covered
Ardennes Business Park (Copyright : Kévin Manand)
catchment area of 56 million consumers (or 60% of Europe’s purchasing power) within a 155- mile radius. The city’s Liège Port Authority manages 667,000 acres in this strategic area, oſten referred to as the “blue banana.” Liège itself has developed
into an important distribution centre
for multinational firms
seeking a Western European business strategy.
Among the
US companies operating in the area are Johnson & Johnson and Skechers. “As far as productivity goes, ours
is quite high,” comments Liège Port Authority spokesperson, Helene Thiebaut. For 2015, the Liège Port
Authority reported a turnover of almost €4 million, a 6.8% gain over 2014. Waterway tonnage rose by 8% to 14.6m tonnes. Road tonnage also increased 13% to 3.6m and rail was up 26% to 1.6m tonnes. The port authority also reported a remarkable 27% increase in container traffic, to 40,665teu. Liège’s advantage is its navigable
network on the Albert Canal and connections to Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge and it has benefited from modal
of private investment is currently ongoing at the port, particularly at its newest Trilogiport terminal. The port actually encompasses
32 port lands managed by the Port Authority of Liege over about 915 acres. Trilogiport is currently under
development and encompasses about 37 acres and, when completed, will be operated by DP World. The management of some
of Trilogiport’s logistics sites has been granted to German Deutsche Lagerhaus Trilogiport (75 acres) and Belgian company Warehouses De Pauw (24 acres). The Port Authority’s trimodal Container
Liege Terminal in
Renory offers outside storage on the River Meuse and connections to the European rail network. Short sea shipping lines also connect Liege to the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, and Russia. According to Thiebaut, the Liege
Container Terminal in Renory is recognized as an official depot by MSC, CMA CGA Maersk, OOCL NYK, and China Shipping. “There’s also regular container shuttle service to Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Zeebrugge,” she says.
docks in Europe,” Thiebaut explains. “It operates like a warehouse next to the water. It handles sensitive break-bulk products such as steel coils and paper.” A big advantage of the covered dock is its inside rail siding, which allows bulk cargo to be transferred.
Advantage south Belgium Located in Belgium’s southern
Province of Luxembourg on the border of France, Luxembourg
(the country) and a few miles from Germany, the Container Terminal Athus (TCA) sees itself as the first dry port of Belgium. The terminal has a daily rail shuttle to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge and two per day to Antwerp. TCA has the capacity to handle
up to 150,000 containers per year. Director, Alain Rysman, says that ATC handles about ten trains per week between North Sea ports and Athus and 80 trucks each day. “These make one to three
roundtrips each day,” he explains. “Sixty percent are to and from Northeast France; 10% Luxembourg, and the remainder Germany.” While truck is faster than rail, explains
Rysman that traffic
jams in Brussels and Antwerp slow things down considerably. Consequently, the Port of Antwerp is shiſting shipments from truck to rail.
“Rail is six hours between
Antwerp and Athus, but customers know when their shipment is getting out,” he says. “They can organize their logistics in advance.” Handling costs at TCA are considerably lower than Antwerp’s. “Our biggest
customers the are steamship lines,” Rysman FBJ Free add:Layout 1 11/7/16 16:45 Page 1
continues. “Among them are MSC, Maersk, Hyundai, Evergreen, China Shipping, CMA CGM, K Line, and Hanjin. Cargoes flow between Asia and Antwerp, with contracts from the port to final customers.” As part of the agreement, TCA stores empty containers at its site.
TCA operates as the first dry port of Belgium. (TCA Photo)
actively engaged in terminal operations, transport organisation and customs preparation. Its equipment encompasses three GPS-controlled mobile rubber gantry cranes, six reach stacker cranes with a capacity of 40 tons, and one empty container-handler. Some goods arrive at TCA
before clearing customs. “This increases speed,” Rysman says. “It allows us to prepare the financial declaration for VAT.” TCA
has also attracted
companies such as Scott USA of Sun Valley, Idaho, opening distribution warehouses a stone’s throw away. The sports manufacturer previously had a distribution centre near Antwerp. “Scott USA operates a
it has few inhabitants compared to other comparable regions. Case in point: Ardenne Logistics, which is promoted by IDELUX, offers 110 acres of space in a bi-modal logistics park close to TCA in Neufchâteau, Belgium. Plus, companies locating
there do not pay property tax, reports Joel Marinozzi, business development manager of IDELUX, which
manages 50
business parks in the region. “And, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg across the border is used mainly as a financial base, which is helpful in organizing business,” he says. Another note: the cost of greenfield land is six times that of Belgium’s Province of Luxembourg.
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“We have roughly 3,000 boxes here,” he reveals. “The boxes are brought here and then used for another customer. The idea is not to send it back to Antwerp empty.” TCA provides up to 5,000teu
of container storage and 13 rail tracks, each about 1,150 feet long. TCA is staffed by 45 people
25
270,000sq ſt warehouse here and wants to build another,” Rysman revealed. “The company came here because of this terminal. It has a lot of business in France.” Besides geographic location
and multimodal advantage, the Province of Luxembourg offers capacity for further development;
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