Traffic in Flemish seaports in 2022 slightly lower than in 2021

In 2022, more than 321 million tonnes of goods were loaded and unloaded in the four seaports in the Flemish Region. That is slightly less than in 2021. This is apparent from figures from Statistics Flanders on Friday. In recent years, international trade was affected by covid, by the Suez-incident and by the Ukraine-war.

In the course of 2022, the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge merged into 'Port of Antwerp-Bruges'. The quantities of both ports were therefore added together in the figures for all years. The port of Antwerp-Bruges is the largest Flemish port with 287 million tonnes of incoming and outgoing goods in 2022. That is 1 per cent less than in 2021.

At the end of 2017, the port of Ghent merged with Zeeland Seaports (the Dutch ports of Vlissingen and Terneuzen) to form 'North Sea Port'. The port of Ghent has since been called 'North Sea Port Flanders'. Traffic in the port of Ghent was 5 per cent higher in 2022 than in 2021.

Ostend is the smallest of the four Flemish seaports. Traffic figures have fallen since 2008. In recent years, the port has profiled itself more as a distribution centre for the construction and maintenance of wind farms in the North Sea.

Not every port loads and unloads the same type of goods. A large part of the traffic in the ports of Antwerp-Bruges consists of containers. In Ghent and Ostend it is much more about dry bulk. In Ghent, this includes iron ore that is supplied for the large steel plant of ArcelorMittal in the port.

^{#FlandersNewsService | ©BELGA PHOTO JONAS D'HOLLANDER}