167,372,296 tonnes of cargo were loaded and unloaded in the port of Antwerp in 2006, an increase of 4.6% compared with the 160 million tonnes in 2005. Imports amounted to nearly 92 million tonnes (up 5.6%), while exports came to more than 75 million tonnes (up 3.3%).

The container volume is growing twice as fast as the general total, having increased by 8.2% to 7,018,799 TEU, or 0.5 million TEU more than the previous year. In terms of tonnage, the volume of containers handled in the port of Antwerp was 80,809,428 tonnes, up by 8.3% or more than 6 million tonnes.

Management commented that the container trade with other European countries and North America in particular is continuing to grow strongly, as are imports from the Far East. The new Deurganck dock handled a volume of 810,000 TEU.

Conventional/breakbulk also showed a positive final result at the end of the year. The volume has increased significantly compared with 2005, to 18,354,006 million tonnes. In comparison with the 17.85 million tonnes handled by the port of Antwerp in 2005 this represents growth of 2.8%.

Ro/ro traffic in the port of Antwerp experienced an increase of 6.1%. Exports were up by 11.2%, while the volume of imports rose slightly by 1.3%. A total of 3,868,755 tonnes of ro/ro cargo was loaded and unloaded in the port of Antwerp during 2006.

Last year 317,261 cars were imported and 571,747 exported. Overall the car trade expanded by 10.2%, thanks to additional imports from Italy, South Korea and Japan, as well as growing exports to West and South Africa.