Belgium's Port of Antwerp expects total container throughput will grow eight per cent to seven million TEU in 2006.

This is attributed to strong growth in the trade with other European countries, North America and the Far East. New container facilities at Deurganck handled 800,000 TEU, a record for the new terminal in Flanders in its first year of operation.

As for other cargo, port authorities say it will be 167.3 million tonnes, an increase of more than four per cent over the previous year.

Breakbulk cargo saw significant volume increases over 2005, a three per cent rise to 18.5 million tonnes last year. Bulk cargo totalled 64.38 million tonnes, a slight increase compared with 2005.

From August, there was explosive growth in imports of steel from China and India as a result of developments in steel prices on the world markets, said the port authority. This trade peaked in the last quarter of 2006, with steel imports rising from 3.5 to 4.5 million tonnes, up 29 per cent year on year.

In stark contrast, steel imports by shortsea fell steeply from 1.7 to 1.3 million tonnes, a decrease of nearly a quarter, with Antwerp losing trade to neighbouring ports.

Ro/ro traffic through Antwerp surged 5.7 per cent. Exports were up by more than eight per cent, while imports remained stable while of 3.87 million tonnes of ro/ro were handled in 2006.

The port also saw an increase, the first in a long time, in the number of seagoing ships calling at Antwerp. By the end of November the number of ships stood at 14,446, up 3.6 per cent compared with the first 11 months of 2005. The gross registered tonnage rose by about seven per cent. The total number of ships for the year as a whole is expected to be 15,750.