October 24, 2014 [PortNews IAA] - The port of Antwerp handled a freight volume of 148,344,168 tonnes during the first nine months of this year. That’s 3.7% more than the same period last year, the company said in its press release.
Both the container volume and the liquid bulk volume were strongly up, which helps to explain the continuing growth. If the port stays on trend it will finish this year with a new record freight volume. Last year was already an all-time record with a volume of 190.8 million tonnes.
Liquid bulk
The liquid bulk volume expanded during the past three quarters by 3.8% to 46,163,344 tonnes. Oil derivatives for their part were up by 4.9% to 33,798,790 tonnes, while chemicals managed growth of 1.9% to 8,626,899 tonnes. Only the volume of crude oil failed to match the general growth, as it ended the month of September down slightly by 0.6% to 3,459,736 tonnes.
After a record year in 2013 when the volume of liquid bulk shot up by 31.4%, Antwerp has further consolidated its position with these overall growth figures. The port of Antwerp is an important investment location for many companies in the oil and chemical cluster.
Refinery Total has begun construction of a new installation on its site in Antwerp, which will produce more diesel and kerosene among other things. The 32 modules for this plant were built by a construction yard outside the plant and will be carried to the Total site by outsize transport over the next few months. Months of preparation have gone into the transport of these modules, some of which are up to 22 metres tall. Indeed the transport operations will be the largest and heaviest ever on the public highways of Antwerp.
At the beginning of this month Exxon Mobil started construction of a new unit on its site in Antwerp, representing an investment of more than 1 billion dollars in the refinery.
