Antwerpen

1. фев, 11:06 Antwerpen Port says Belgian strike costing 1 mln euros an hour Belgium’s nation...

seagull 1. фев, 11:06
Antwerpen Port says Belgian strike costing 1 mln euros an hour
Belgium’s national strike today by the country’s three main unions to protest government austerity will cost the Port of Antwerp 1 million euros ($1.3 million) an hour in lost “added value,” the port said, Bloomberg reports. Most terminals at the port are closed, vessel traffic is disrupted and dock workers stopped working at 6 a.m. local time, Annik Dirkx, a spokeswoman for the port, said today by telephone.

“The Port of Antwerp regrets that a strike that is not opposed to the port is affecting the port this much,” Dirkx said. “Besides the financial loss, there is also, even more important, the damage that is caused to our reputation on an international level as a fast, reliable and efficient port.”

Belgian public transport including domestic and international rail services was brought to a standstill as workers struck to oppose government reforms to pensions and spending cuts. Trams, bus and subway services were halted in Brussels, where European Union leaders are meeting today to discuss ways to boost growth and jobs. Some flights from the capital’s international airport were also canceled.

en.portnews.ru

22. янв, 11:11 Ports of Antwerpen and Rotterdam cooperate on pipelines The port authorities of...

seagull 22. янв, 11:11
Ports of Antwerpen and Rotterdam cooperate on pipelines
The port authorities of Antwerp and Rotterdam are going to work together to reinforce the pipeline infrastructure between the two ports. On Friday, they laid this down in a declaration of intent, signed by the respective port directors, Eddy Bruyninckx and Hans Smits. The costs of an initial study into the route and a cost estimate will be borne jointly, Tankterminals reports.
Cooperation
Market parties do not readily take the initiative when it comes to pipeline infrastructure between various clusters, for reasons including the scale of the investments, the duration of a project and the acquisition of a route and permits. The Antwerp Municipal Port Authority and the Port of Rotterdam Authority, as independent parties, can play a stimulating role here. The two port authorities therefore wish to jointly commission a study for the route and a rough cost estimate for the development of a pipeline bundle between Antwerp and Rotterdam. They will also use the results of the study to gauge interest among market parties in their own port. If there is interest there and a clear win-win situation is created for both port communities, a targeted plan can be developed. This initiative to collaborate can serve as a model for other cooperation projects between ports. It is not a question of ‘all-embracing’ cooperation, but a specific project from which two or, if necessary, several ports can benefit.
Importance
Industry in Antwerp and Rotterdam competes on the world market, and therefore benefits greatly from increases in scale and an efficient cost position for the port and industrial complexes in which they operate. Better connections between the two contribute to this. The integration between companies within an industrial cluster and between different industrial clusters can be improved by means of pipelines.
Pipeline infrastructure is a safe and sustainable alternative to transport by road, water and rail, it improves accessibility and flexibility, and it ensures that the port and industrial complexes of Antwerp and Rotterdam can continue to develop. In addition to the exchange of raw materials, companies within the respective port areas can more easily exchange residual substances and in this way reduce their energy consumption, emissions, subsidiary products, waste products and costs.

en.portnews.ru

21. янв, 9:45 Port of Antwerp container and liquid bulk volume hits record high The port of...

seagull 21. янв, 9:45
Port of Antwerp container and liquid bulk volume hits record high

The port of Antwerp handled 187,151,714 tonnes of freight last year. This represents an increase of 5% compared with 2010, when the volume was 178.2 million tonnes. These definitive figures exceed the provisional estimates made at the end of December: the records announced before the turn of the year have turned out to be even higher, the Port Authority said Wednesday.

Never before has a larger container volume (both in TEU and in tonnage) been handled in Antwerpin the space of one year than in 2011. Expressed in terms of tonnage, the container volume was up by 2.5%, to 105,109,107 tonnes. In TEU the increase was 2.3%, to 8,664,243 TEU, a shade higher than the record level of 2008 (8,663,736 TEU). Ro/ro freight for its part also expanded, rising by14% to 4,244,410 tonnes. Conventional/break bulk for its part was up by 14.1%, to 12,695,805tonnes. The increase is mainly due to the large rise in the volume of steel products (up 28.8%), the mainstay of this segment. The volume of fruit rose by 2.9%, although paper and cellulose were down by 24.5%. The volume of bulk freight is trending up once more, having risen by 7.1% compared with last year.

The increase is mainly attributable to the large expansion in liquid bulk. 2011 was in fact an all time record year for liquid bulk, which was up by 12.2% to 46,016,132 tonnes. The volumes of oil derivatives and chemicals expanded too, by 19.6% and 3.1% respectively, while the amount of crude oil handled was down by 3.5%. Dry bulk for its part did less well than last year, falling by 3.5% to 19,086,260 tonnes. Growth figures were produced by coal (up 4.4%), cement (2.8%) and sand and gravel (8.8%). On the other hand declines were noted in ore (down 13.6%), grain (7%), fertilisers (5.1%) and scrap metal (17.3%).


The number of seagoing ships calling at the port also rose last year: in 2011 there were 15,240 calls, an increase of 3.1%. The gross tonnage likewise rose, by 9%, reaching 316,428,860 GT. The number of barge calls finished the year at 59,428, an increase of 4% compared with 2010. The volume of barge freight handled in 2011 was 87,133,204 tonnes.

The number of jobs done by dock workers ended at 1,574,864 in 2011, an increase of 3.5% in comparison with 2010.

en.portnews.ru

31. дек, 15:57 Port of Antwerp cargo traffic rises 4.6 percent to 186.4m tons The port of Antw...

seagull 31. дек, 15:57
Port of Antwerp cargo traffic rises 4.6 percent to 186.4m tons
The port of Antwerp expects to have handled 186.4 million tonnes of freight this year. This represents an increase of 4.6% compared with 2010, when the volume was 178.2 million tonnes. Furthermore, all-time records have been set this year for containers and liquid bulk, with expected volumes of 104,779,157 and 46,095,431 tonnes respectively, the Port Authority said Thursday.

Antwerp’s container volume was up by 2.2% in 2011, to 104,779,157 tonnes. Expressed in standard containers (twenty-foot equivalent units) the figure was correspondingly higher, up 2% to 8,638,311 TEU. This demonstrates that in comparison with other ports in the Hamburg-Le Havre range relatively few empty containers are respositioned in Antwerp.

The Ro-Ro volume was similarly up, by 13.3% to 4,219,597 tonnes. The number of cars handled in 2011 amounts to 1,056,122, an increase of 14.7%. Conventional/breakbulk freight also experienced growth: during the past year 12,772,956 tonnes of freight in this category was loaded and unloaded, 14.8% more than the previous year. These growth figures show that the difficult situation in which this segment found itself has partially improved, although a great deal of work remains to be done. The Port Authority is therefore satisfied with the passage in the government agreement that states “the system of dock labour will be modified in consultation with the parties involved (the employers, union organisations, industrial relations mediators and port authorities) in order to modernise it.”

“This initiative should reinforce the competitive position of Antwerp, which is still the largest breakbulk port in Europe,” says Port Authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx. The volume of bulk freight for its part was up 6.3% to 64,585,083 tonnes, thanks mainly to the large increase in liquid bulk which expanded by 12.4% to 46,095,431 tonnes. “These strong growth figures demonstrate the dynamism of the tank storage companies. They also show that the reconversion of the former breakbulk areas in our port into tank storage areas over the past few decades has been beneficial,” says Eddy Bruyninckx. The associated handling activity generates the highest added value after breakbulk.

Dry bulk on the other hand was down by 6.5% to 18,489,652 tonnes, due largely to lower imports of ore and fertilisers.

The number of seagoing ships calling at the port also rose this year: in 2011 there were 15,230 calls, an increase of exactly 3%. The gross tonnage was up by 8.3%, to 314,437,464 million GT.

The number of jobs done by the dockworkers during the first 11 months of the year amounted to 1,448,411. This represents an increase of 4% compared with the same period last year.

en.portnews.ru

26. дек, 9:47 Antwerpen and Rotterdam to reinforce the pipeline infrastructure between the two...

seagull 26. дек, 9:47
Antwerpen and Rotterdam to reinforce the pipeline infrastructure between the two ports
The port authorities of Antwerp and Rotterdam are going to work together to reinforce the pipeline infrastructure between the two ports. On Friday, they set this down in a declaration of intent, signed by the respective port directors, Eddy Bruyninckx and Hans Smits. The costs of an initial study into the route and a cost estimate will be borne jointly, Tankterminals reports.
Cooperation
Market parties do not readily take the initiative when it comes to pipeline infrastructure between various clusters, for reasons including the scale of the investments, the duration of a project and the acquisition of a route and permits. The Antwerp Municipal Port Authority and the Port of Rotterdam Authority, as independent parties, can play a stimulating role here. The two port authorities therefore wish to jointly commission a study for the route and a rough cost estimate for the development of a pipeline bundle between Antwerp and Rotterdam. They will also use the results of the study to gauge interest among market parties in their own port. If there is interest there and a clear win-win situation is created for both port communities, a targeted plan can be developed. This initiative to collaborate can serve as a model for other cooperation projects between ports. It is not a question of ‘all-embracing’ cooperation, but a specific project from which two or, if necessary, several ports can benefit.


Importance
Industry in Antwerp and Rotterdam competes on the world market, and therefore benefits greatly from increases in scale and an efficient cost position for the port and industrial complexes in which they operate. Better connections between the two contribute to this. The integration between companies within an industrial cluster and between different industrial clusters can be improved by means of pipelines.
Pipeline infrastructure is a safe and sustainable alternative to transport by road, water and rail, it improves accessibility and flexibility, and it ensures that the port and industrial complexes of Antwerp and Rotterdam can continue to develop. In addition to the exchange of raw materials, companies within the respective port areas can more easily exchange residual substances and in this way reduce their energy consumption, emissions, subsidiary products, waste products and costs.
Existing pipelines
A number of pipelines already exist between the two port areas (and the ports of Vlissingen, Moerdijk and Terneuzen in between):
Rotterdam - Antwerp Pipeline (RAPL), since 1971, for crude oil.
Central European Pipeline System (CEPS) for oil products.
Various pipelines for ethylene and propylene and for the industrial gases hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen.
The RAPL has an annual capacity of 32 million tonnes and, as a rule, most of this capacity is utilised. No figures are available for the other pipelines. The distance between Antwerp and Rotterdam is over 100 kilometres.

en.portnews.ru

25. дек, 13:36 Antwerpen Port increases harbor dues for the first time in three years Europe’s...

seagull 25. дек, 13:36
Antwerpen Port increases harbor dues for the first time in three years
Europe’s second largest port will raise its dues by 2 percent and will use the funds gathered from the increased fairs to improve the port’s infrastructure, according to the JOC.

“When it comes to setting the level of dues, the Port Authority remains a very stable partner for port users,” said Antwerp Port CEO Eddy Bruyninckx.

“The rates policy is characterized by continuity, not by day-to-day considerations with sudden increases or decreases,” he added.

In 2012 the port will continue to offer a discount of 10 percent to ships with an Environmental Ship Index (ESI) of 31 points or more.

Reduced rates introduced in 2010 for breakbulk carriers loading or unloading in the port will still apply in 2012.

The rise in harbor dues is slightly lower than that of the German Port of Hamburg, who will be increasing their dues by 3.5 percent in 2012. Ships of 11,000 TEU or more will be exempt from the higher dues.

Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, has made the decision to freeze its dues for the third consecutive year.


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