The Port of Antwerp has unveiled a 3% increase in throughput to 143m tonnes the first nine months of the year compared with the same period for 2012. Main reason for the growth was a 32% increase in liquid bulk cargoes, to 44.4m tonnes, with oil derivatives rising 36.7%, chemicals 9.2% and crude oil 71.4%.

Offsetting this was a 25.6% drop in dry bulk volume to 10.9m tonnes, mainly due to 57.4% decrease in coal imports, which the Port Authority attributed to the high rail freight rates to the German hinterland that made other ports more competitive, a gap it said it was making ‘strenuous efforts to close’.

Antwerp’s container totals for the nine months dipped 2.8% y-o-y in both teu and tonnage to reach 76.5m tonnes, but the number of cars handled rose by 5.5% to nearly 970,000 thanks to a 27% rise in imports.