Antwerp, the most important European Port for Turkey

ANTWERP : With a Turkish import/export volume of nearly 11 million tonnes of freight annually, Antwerp has a market share of 55% among the other ports in the Hamburg – Le Havre range. Turkey is the fourth-largest trading partner of the Port of Antwerp, sending mainly containers (88%) followed by breakbulk, ro/ro and chemicals. In the other direction, exports to Turkey are largely containers (77%) and breakbulk.

To reinforce this already strong trade position, the Port of Antwerp regularly organises commercial meetings and activities with players in the Turkish ports sector, such as the Port Day on 28 April this year.

The Port Day is part of the Turkey-Azerbaijan Trade Mission organised by Voka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Antwerp-Waasland in cooperation with the Belgian Federation of Chambers of Commerce.

The Port of Antwerp offers excellent facilities for handling all types of freight and all modes of transport. Furthermore no other port is so centrally located in Europe, making transport to the end consumers easier, more efficient and thus less expensive, with multiple connections between foreland and hinterland. In the case of Turkey there are very good connections, with nine weekly container shuttles by rail and seven shortsea calls per week for containers and 14 per month for breakbulk. And for road transport there is an extensive motorway network.

In the meantime, large investments are being made in further developing the port’s facilities, both by Government and by private investors. In March 2016 Antwerp will open a new sea lock with a length of 500 m, a width of 68 m and a depth of 17.80 below the local datum point, making it the largest lock in the world, easily able to handle the largest ships afloat. At the same time work is going ahead on a new commercial zone of more than 1,000 hectares on the left bank of the Scheldt, offering space for maritime, industrial and logistics activities. The first ships will be able to moor there in 2021 at a new tidal lock now being built to handle the expected growth in the container volume.

The Port of Antwerp not only handles large volumes of freight, it also works hard to build systems to ensure that the goods reach their final destination as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The Antwerp Port Community System for its part ensures fast, reliable exchange of electronic data between the different partners in the logistics chain, including Customs declarations, dangerous goods declarations and nautical information.

Source : dailyshippingtimes.com