For the first quarter of 2017, port of Ghent recorded a total cargo traffic of almost 14 million tonnes. That is by a large margin the best quarter ever. With this, Ghent Port Company sees its cargo traffic continue with the same fervour as in 2016, which was the best year ever.
With a total cargo traffic by seagoing and inland navigation of almost 14 million tonnes, Ghent registered nearly 10% more than in the first quarter of last year or an increase by 1.2 million tonnes. This is the best quarter ever for the overall transhipment by seagoing and inland navigation.
Image courtesy of port of Ghent
In the first trimester, the port received 8% more seagoing vessels (a total of 775) than in the same period in 2016. For inland navigation, there was an increase of over 4% in the number of vessels (a total of 3,680) with a total tonnage that was 10% higher.
Also a record for seaborne cargo
The last quarter of 2016 may have broken the record of best one ever for the port’s seaborne traffic, however the first quarter of 2017 does it again.
In the first three months, with a total of 8.2 million tonnes, the seaborne cargo traffic has improved by no less than one-fifth as compared to the same period of last year.
Inland navigation reaches 5.6 million tonnes of cargo traffic. This is a decrease by 160,000 tonnes or by 2.7% as against the first quarter of last year.
Cargo categories by seagoing and by inland navigation
For the seaborne cargo traffic, iron ore, coal, scrap, rapeseed and dry fertilizers are the goods that are on the up. Petroleum products are going down.
Expressed in lane metres, ro/ro traffic experienced a growth by 20% to 530,000 lane metres. Conventional general cargo crosses the threshold of 1 million tonnes (+20%), mainly because of the increasing supplies of steel slabs.
The decrease in inland navigation is caused by the reduced transhipment of iron ore. This is however compensated by the increasing traffic of iron ore by sea. Maize, wheat, crude minerals and building materials on the other hand are doing very well. It has been a good start of the year for container traffic by inland navigation: +20%, the third best quarter ever. This is the result of the further development of new inland navigation connections with Lille, Rotterdam, Zeeland Seaports and Antwerp.
Source: Port of Ghent