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Multimodal 2017 Daily Issue 2 - Freight Business Journal


///NEWS Plenty of reasons to be cheerful in Antwerp


The Port of Antwerp had two reasons to celebrate as 2016 drew to a close. It achieved a double record when the total freight volume climbed to 214 million tonnes for the first time ever, representing a year- on-year growth of 2.7%. At the same time, container volumes rose above the 10 million TEU mark for the first time in its history. Growth was largely driven by


the container and liquid bulk segments. The port believes it is strongly positioned to make further gains in the coming years as it benefits from more direct calls from the container giants. There


has been a sea


change in the global container industry in recent years. Driven by cost-savings and other efficiency gains, the container carriers have formed alliances and the number of operators has declined. In 2017 the shipping world will largely be dominated by 2M, Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance. Given that there are fewer


port calls and much larger vessels, this means that it is more important than ever for ports to have a secure place in the sailing schedules of these players. And so far, Antwerp has succeeded extremely well


here. This trend is reflected in


the port’s container volumes, which grew by an impressive 4.1%, pushing volumes over the magic 10 million TEU to 10.04 million TEU. With


these excellent


growth figures Antwerp has expanded its market share in the Hamburg-Le Havre range. Over the past few years it has also


considerably improved


its position in the Far East, at the expense of its competitors Rotterdam and Hamburg. The port authority expects


this strong position to continue and even to improve within the new alliance structure, which starts on 1 April. Under the new alliance port call schedules, Antwerp will enjoy 10 direct connections with the Far East and on the transatlantic trade, nine out of 10 loops will make direct calls. An trend towards more


dedicated import and export calls is also noticeable - for example,


Ocean Alliance’s


NEU3 loop, which is another direct import service choosing the port. This not only results in additional import volumes, it further strengthens the hub position of the port. In addition to the Far East putting in a stellar


performance, container volumes from the UK were also strong, increasing substantially over 2015. Total volumes amounted to 5 million tonnes, representing 540,000teu, an increase of 90,000teu on the previous year. One of the reasons behind


this increase was the drop in the value of the Pound, which


declined following


the Brexit vote in June. The UK was able to increase its exports, increasing volume shipped to mainland Europe and the rest of the world. As the port of Antwerp is a major transhipment


gateway, this


resulted in additional traffic for the port. Antwerp hopes to improve


on its position in the container segment to/from the UK but recognises that


uncertainty


surrounding Brexit makes any predictions difficult. The port, like everyone else, is eagerly anticipating any results of the Brexit negotiations due to take place with the EU and other trading partner countries. However, as a port it


believes one of the main goals is to minimise trade barriers between the UK and EU . The port authority and the wider port community do their best to make sure customs and


border control procedures are as customer friendly and efficient as possible to minimise the impact on business and trade. After


container volumes,


the second biggest growth segment for the port was liquid bulk. These volumes climbed by 3.8% to almost 70 million tonnes. Oil derivatives were up by as much as 7.1% and chemicals by 1.1%. For


trade


with the UK, liquid bulk is actually the largest segment and represents around 8.5 million tonnes or 57% of the total maritime flows between the UK and Antwerp.


Buoyant investment To support the ongoing growth in both the container and liquid segments, the Port of Antwerp can count on several significant investments in the coming years. In 2013, MSC announced that


it wanted to further strengthen its presence in Antwerp. However, its Home Terminal in


the Delwaide dock had


already reached full capacity and so expansion there was not possible. Partly due to the increasing size of ships, which makes it more difficult to pass through the locks on the Right Bank of the River Scheldt, the


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Deurganck dock on the Left bank was considered a better option. In mid-2014 the Port Authority board of


directors


gave the go-ahead for the move, which was completed by the end of 2016.


€50 million. At the open space in the Hansa dock, the SEA-Invest subsidiary SEA-Tank Terminal will


build additional tank


capacity for energy giant Total, representing an investment of


Following the MSC Home


Terminal’s move from the Delwaide dock to the new MSC PSA European Terminal (MPET) at the Deurganck dock, a huge space became available. There was a lot of interest from prospective customers, with 19 candidates keen to establish themselves there. After a careful tender and selection process, the waterside- connected concessions will be used for container, liquid bulk and as a multi-purpose terminal. The SEA-Invest Group is


planning the construction of a new tanker terminal in the Delwaide dock, representing an investment of €250 million. This terminal will be used for the import, export and transit of all its petroleum products in the ARA range. The new tank farm will have a capacity of 750,000sq m in the initial phase for the storage of refined products, which will be transported by barge and seagoing vessels. Annual freight volume generated by this activity is estimated at 13 million tonnes. Additional capacity may be built under a second phase of the project. In the same dock the Group will also operate a container terminal that it has acquired from Independent Maritime Terminal (IMT) and which will move from the Hansa dock to the Delwaide dock to expand its activities. The focus will be on niche and short-sea carriers and this development represents an investment of


€100 million. A third water-connected


concession at the Delwaide dock – the former DP World concession - has been awarded Mexiconatie and Handico. Mexiconatie will further develop its stevedoring activities, while Handico will expand its storage and container repair activities. When it comes to the


landside concessions, Deldo tyres will expand its activities and Katoen Natie will create the biggest beer hub in the world, which will handle the equivalent of 2 million glasses a year. In addition to the Delwaide


dock, more investments will be made on the right bank in the liquid bulk sector. To supplement its terminal in Amsterdam, Houston- based international terminal operator Zenith Energy is keen to have a second terminal in the strategically located Amst erdam-Ro tt erdam- Antwerp (ARA) Region. Given the size of the project


which this company wished to carry out in Antwerp, and taking into account the limited quay length available in the Delwaide dock, an alternative site has been chosen on the right bank of the River Scheldt. Once the concession has been awarded, Zenith will be able to build 500,000 m³ of storage capacity in the first phase. However, it expects to expand rapidly to 1 million m³. The company will ultimately invest €250 million.


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