Antwerp-German Freight Services Grow
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
68.1 million tonnes of cargo were transported between the seaport of Antwerp and Germany during 2016. This represents growth of approx. 4 million tonnes or 6.1 percent compared to the previous year.
Thus Europe’s second-largest seaport is continuing its growth course as an important hub for German industry.
While truck traffic rose by 4.3 percent in terms of tonnage, transportation by inland waterway vessel increased by 7.3 percent and railway transport services grew by as much as 8.3 percent.
Although trucks continue to occupy the leading position within the modal split, they are losing shares in percentage terms to railway and inland waterway transports. In 2016 the breakdown of the modal split of transports between Germany and Antwerp was as follows: 36.7 percent of goods were transported via the Rhine waterway (2015: 36.3 percent), 17.2 percent by rail (2015: 16.8 percent) and 46.1 percent by road (2015: 46.9 percent).
“We’re expecting a significant increase in goods traffic with Germany in the next few years too. The current figures confirm our commitment to developing new multimodal solutions in order to cope with this growth rate,” says Dr Dieter Lindenblatt, the Antwerp Port Authority Representative for Germany.
Experts are expecting cargo traffic between Antwerp and Germany to grow to a figure of more than 90 million tonnes per annum by 2030. The Antwerp Port Authority is therefore focusing on expanding marketable intermodal transport links and establishing regional hubs where goods from destinations further inland can be consolidated in order to provide more efficient transport operations.