Sanctions against Russia have impact on Flemish ports
In Belgium, the new sanctions against Russia will mainly have an impact on the port of Ghent, said Minister of the North Sea Vincent Van Quickenborne on Wednesday during a visit to the Maritime Information Centre (MIK) that monitors the ban. According to Van Quickenborne, the ports of Zeebrugge and Antwerp will be impacted less by the new sanctions.
The port of Ghent mainly experiences consequences because of coal traffic. "Eight per cent of the vessels in the port of Ghent come from Russia and this mainly concerns coal. That will be prohibited by the European Commission", said Van Quickenborne.
Earlier sanctions against Russia have also impacted the port of Zeebrugge, mainly the automotive sector. Thousands of vehicles are currently blocked on the quays of ICO Zeebrugge. Some cars were meant for Russia, but cannot be shipped any further because of the sanctions, and others were stopped by shipping companies themselves.
"At the moment, we are talking about 8,000 vehicles and half of them are luxury cars that have already been blocked by previous sanctions. We can go up to 10,000 vehicles. Our car parks are not completely full, but we cannot fill up everything with blocked cars," said Marc Adriansens, managing director of ICO Zeebrugge.
(TOM)
The ship GDF Suez Ghent in the port of Ghent, 2011. © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK