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The benefi ts of Benelux


The countries of the region may have their diff erences but they all have one thing in common – they are kingpins of the north-west European logistics network.


Troubled waters but Antwerp ploughs on


The port of Antwerp saw growth in a declining market during the fi rst quarter of this year compared to the same period last year and even the last quarter of 2020. How much this is accounted for by stockpiling ahead of Brexit, Covid-19 or simply hiccups in the maritime supply chain (such as congestion at British container-ports) is diffi cult if not impossible to tell at this stage. International


development


manager and head of the former Brexit Task Force, Wim Dillen


states: “But we did see growth, especially in the container sector, both for UK and Ireland, and we saw new liner services popping up.”


Meanwhile, according to


Flanders Investment & Trade, over 200 UK companies expressed an interest in setting up a business entity in the region - and over a quarter have actually done so since Brexit, according to Wim Dillen. It goes without saying that


the maritime industry and in particular container liner services are booming today, as the global economy is picking up. Supply chains have become increasingly vulnerable, not only in terms of costs, with freight charges at all- time highs, but also in terms of timing with congestion at ports and lack of equipment and risks (notably, the Suez Canal incident). All this puts enormous strains on port and hinterland capacities. However, says Wim


Dillen:


“Antwerp is an agile port and has managed so far to deal with the backlog of ships, but needless to say we hope to return to a more normal situation as soon as


possible.” One unexpected risk has been


successfully contained, though. “We are proud to say that ever since the pandemic began, Antwerp stayed fully operational all the time. We feel this to be a result of the immediate set-up of a multi- disciplinary and cross-border task- force in February 2020, headed by the port authority, involving all partners of the nautical chain, taking


the necessary


precautionary measures, continuously monitoring the situation and adapting wherever necessary, but most of all communicating in a clear and transparent manner, with one


single voice. The result is that


volumes of the Port of Antwerp encountered only a minor drop of 3% in 2020 compared 2019, and even grew in terms of containers handled.” Neither Covid nor the general


economic situation will lead to any pausing in the port’s investment programme, says Wim Dillen, with both private operators and the port itself maintaining their investment of several billion euros for the next few years. As reported in FBJ 3 2021, the


port of Antwerp became the fi rst port in the world to GDP certifi cation


for handling life sciences and healthcare products.


Mr Dillen states: “Consequently, we saw our related reefer- volumes grow last year as the pharma-industry recognizes the importance of extremely effi cient and highly secure practices in this respect.” The Port of Antwerp is


meanwhile still waiting for approval for the merger with the fellow Flanders port of Zeebrugge from the Belgian Competition Authority and no cooperation has taken place yet between the two. “As we like to say: we’re engaged but not yet married,” states Wim Dillen. “But we hope we can validate the merger in the beginning of 2022.”


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