2019 was a good year for the Port of Zeebrugge
A total of 45.8 million tonnes of goods passed through the Port of Zeebrugge in West Flanders last year. This is an increase of 14.2% compared with 2018. The figures were released by the Port Authority on Friday. Growth in containers traffic, the shipment of new cars and roll-on roll-off traffic was instrumental in fuelling the increase.
The growth in tonnage is greater than had been initially projected. At a reception held bet he Port Authority in December there was talk of at least 12% growth.
However, the Port’s Ad Interim CEO Rik Goetinck told journalists that “With the latest figures included we have done even better than expected despite the concerns surrounding Brexit”.
The 14.2% growth is spread across various types of freight. “This means that were are making progress in all areas and that is a good think. Roll-on roll-off traffic increased by 3.7%, although there is a shit from the UK to Ireland. Due to the Brexit saga the amount of RORO loads for the UK fell by 2.5% where those destined for Ireland increased by 6.3%”.
The number of containers passing through the port increased by 7%. The amount of liquid natural gas increased by 60.8% thanks to the increased capacity that has come about as a result of the new LNG storage tank.
More growth means more jobs. The number of people working at the port increased by around 103 FTEs, a rise of 5.6% on 2018.