As Europe’s second-largest port, the Port of Antwerp is a major lifeline for the Belgian economy: more than 300 line services to over 800 destinations ensure global connectivity.
The Port of Antwerp annually handles around 231 million tonnes of international maritime freight and is home to Europe’s largest Belgian economy::. The Port of Antwerp accounts, directly and indirectly, for a total of around 143.000 jobs and more than €20 billion in added value.
True to its mission ‘a home port vital for a sustainable future, Antwerp Port Authority aims to flexibly respond to a rapidly evolving maritime market, allowing the port to continue playing its role as a leading world port. The emphasis in this respect is on cooperation, adaptability, a strong focus on innovation and digitization, and sustainable added value, as well as on responsibility towards society.
As one of the leading ports in the world, Antwerp aims to be the ‘port of the future. Port of Antwerp uses innovation as a lever to turn today’s major challenges such as energy transition, digitization, and mobility into opportunities and solutions. By implementing new technologies and collaborating with others, we are further building the sustainable growth of our port and making it more efficient, safer, and more resilient.
ANTWERP is located at UK Coast & Atlantic, Antwerp Area in Belgium at coordinates N 51° 18′ 08.96″ – E 004° 18′ 41.25″. The official UN/Locode of this port is BEANR. It is also known as ANTWERPEN,BEANT,ANVERS,BEAAA.
The local time at ANTWERP is 2022-05-19 at 22:29:00 and the time zone is UTC +2. 296 ships have arrived in this Port within the last 24 hours. Currently, there are 647 vessels in this Port and another 218 vessels are scheduled to make a port call at ANTWERP.
Port of Antwerp throughput
The Port of Antwerp handled 157.8 million tons of freight in 2009. This includes 87.2 million tons of container cargo, 39.5 million tons of liquid bulk, and 14.7 million tons of dry bulk cargo. A total of 10.4 million tons of conventional general cargo and over 3.2 million tons of ro/ro freight were also handled by the port.
Port of Antwerp facilities
The Port of Antwerp is well accessible through a multimodal transportation network consisting of road, barge, rail, pipelines, and short sea/feeder. The port is divided into two areas, the Right Bank and the Left Bank. Right Bank facilities include the Berendrecht Lock, the Bonaparte Dock, the Amerika Dock, the Albert Dock, the Delwaide Dock, the Europa terminal, the North Sea terminal, and the MSC home terminal.
Future plans
Future plans for the port include the Saeftinghe Development Area, the second lock on the left bank, expansion of the container-handling capacity, the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel, and the Oosterweel link. The Saeftinghe Development Area on the left bank of the Scheldt will contain maritime, industrial and logistical facilities.
The government has granted permission for preparatory studies on the construction of a second lock on the left bank, which is scheduled to be operational by 2013. The existing container-handling facilities at the port will reach the maximum operating capacity by 2012-2013. In an effort to cater to future demand, additional container handling facilities will be created.
The Liefkenshoek rail tunnel is currently under construction for completion by 2013. The Oosterweel link road will also be constructed to provide a connection between the left and right banks of the Scheldt.
