Port of Zeebrugge reports 14.2 per cent growth

As a result of “advancement in all important sectors in the port of Zeebrugge”, it handled a total volume of 45.8 million tonnes in 2019, a 14.2 per cent growth.

These important sectors include roll-on/roll-off, liquid natural gas, containers and new vehicles. With nearly 25 per cent growth over the last two years, the company said it is “starting the new decade very positively”.

The roll-on/roll-off traffic rose 3.7 per cent to a total volume of nearly 16.5 million tonnes. Growth was in Ireland (+6.3 per cent), Spain (+153.1 per cent), “thanks to great results on the Santander connection by Cobelfret and the scaling-up of the Finnlines connection to Bilbao”. Deepsea roro also rose (13.9 per cent).

The roro traffic with destination UK decreased (-2.5 per cent) and Scandinavia roro cargo also dropped (-2.7 per cent). The loss in UK roro loads and a shift of cargo to Irish destinations could be the result of Brexit. Elsewhere, the reshuffling of services to Gothenburg led to a small loss on this destination.

After only one year of status quo, 2019 was a new year of growth for the automotive sector in Zeebrugge. The total number of handled vehicles (2,960,339) resulted in a growth of 4.6 per cent. 

The total tonnage of containers handled in the port of Zeebrugge was 16.2 million tonnes, a rise of 7 per cent. In TEU the number of containers rose 4.8 per cent, with 1.7 million TEUs in total.

Elsewhere, the liquid bulk (10.8 million tonnes) rose significantly (+60.8 per cent) thanks to the LNG-volumes, which doubled in 2019 (+107.5 per cent).

The breakbulk volume decreased with -13.5 per cent – the total volume reached 896,892 tonnes.

The solid bulk rose +7.6 per cent to a volume of 1.3 million tonnes.

The number of cruise calls in the Port of Zeebrugge rose slightly, 6 more than in 2018: 149 in total in 2019.

The port labour is still doing well in Zeebrugge. There was a rise in the number of port labour shifts (+3 per cent) and a rise in the number of port labourers (+5.6 cent, 103 extra people). Recruitment also went well – 169 people completed the initiation course in 2019 and were officiated as port labourers.

For more information visit www.portofzeebrugge.be

28th January 2020