About two weeks ago, the port authorities of Antwerp and Zeebrugge in Belgium announced they are starting the process towards a full merger. The new merged entity will bear the name “Port of Antwerp-Bruges”.
Theo Nottteboom, PortEconomics co-director, comments “While the transition to a low-carbon port is high on the agenda, the merger will also create a large container port complex combining the large upstream facilities of Antwerp with coastal container terminals in Zeebrugge. Combined these terminals handled about 13.8 million TEU in 2020.
This is only half a million TEU short of Rotterdam’s volume. Furthermore, this volume is comparable to the combined container throughput of all German Seaports (Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Wilhelmshaven and some smaller box ports), and about 3 million TEU above the container volume of the entire Italian port system (figures Assoporti). All Spanish ports combined handled about 16.75 million TEU in 2020 (figures Puertos del Estado).“
