Container terminal at Antwerp port will discourage trucks during peak hours

DP World will make trucks visiting the Antwerp Gateway port terminal during the day pay substantially more from 20 May. The logistics provider, headquartered in Dubai, wants to discourage truck visits during peak hours. The transport industry regrets the decision.

DP World is the main shareholder of Antwerp Gateway, a quay of over 1.6 kilometres at the Port of Antwerp. For seven years now, that terminal has been open 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday for handling trucks. The night hours should help spread the traffic of trucks, thus reducing traffic jams. However, four out of five trucks still arrive during the day.

As a result, DP World will start charging an extra fee of 14 euros every time a truck visits the Antwerp Gateway terminal between six in the morning and eight in the evening from 20 May. The measure should improve throughput at the terminal and reduce congestion around the Antwerp port area, thereby boosting the efficiency in the logistics chain and optimising the use of available container capacity. 

The transport industry is disappointed with the new measure and thinks it is a bad move. It argues that it makes no sense for truck drivers to collect a container at night if the recipient cannot receive it at night because it is out of office hours. Moreover, the measure will put pressure on transport prices as carriers will have to pass on the surcharge to customers.

^{#FlandersNewsService | A lorry with container checks in at the Antwerp Gateway terminal in the harbour of Antwerp © BELGA PHOTO HERWIG VERGULT}