April 30 - The port of Antwerp handled 46.99 million tonnes of cargo in the first three months of 2013 - a year-on-year improvement of 1.4 percent over Q1 2012.
Conventional breakbulk at the gateway grew by 4.4 percent in Q1 2013 over the equivalent trading period of 2012 to 3.65 million tonnes, mainly due to an increase in steel product volumes (up 6.4 percent to 1.65 million tonnes). Ro-ro volumes were down by 0.5 percent to 1.12 million tonnes, although the number of cars handled grew by 5.5 percent to 305,707.
The amount of liquid and dry bulk handled at the port of Antwerp rose by 13.4 percent in Q1 2013 to 17.77 million tonnes. The gateway handled 2.126,254 teu in Q1 2013, a year-on-year decline of 2.8 percent over Q1 2012.
The number of vessels calling at the seaport during the first quarter of 2013 was down by 1.2 percent year-on-year to 3,587 - although the gross tonnage rose by 3 percent the 79.8 million, signifying that larger ships are calling at the gateway.
