Port of Zeebrugge grows by 12.5% in first semester

Port of Zeebrugge grows by 12.5% in first semester


In the first semester Zeebrugge registered a 12.5 percent growth in comparison to the same period in 2018. A total cargo volume of 21,883,578 tonnes was handled.

In the first six months liquid bulk volumes amounted to 4,830,418 tonnes. Growth was registered in the LNG segment (3,218,162 tonnes). A total of 54 LNG vessels called at Zeebrugge in comparison to 24 calls in the first semester of 2018. A lot of LNG was imported from Qatar and Russia. These volumes will remain intact in the second semester.

The solid bulk segment decreased by 5 percent to 619,051 tonnes, and breakbulk dropped by 10.3 percent to 481,375 tonnes.

The roll-on/roll-off traffics grew by 5 percent in the first half of the year to a total volume of 8,404,658 tonnes. In anticipation of the first Brexit date (29 March) the UK markets were supplied in anticipation (volumes rose by 17.2 percent). In the second quarter the volume decreased by 6.8 percent in May and by 12.3 percent in June.

Ro-ro traffic to Southern Europe increased substantially thanks to new services and economies of scale. A total of 1,527,872 new cars were handled (+4.9 percent).

The container traffic decreased by 2.2 percent to 7,548,076 tonnes. In June container volumes increased considerably (+9.5 percent) as a result of the new deepsea services and container feeder services. Further growth is expected in the second semester of 2019.

For more information visit www.portofzeebrugge.be

12th August 2019