The Belgian Port of Antwerp, is Northern Europe’s second largest and in terms of services offered, one of the most comprehensive ports. The port’s portfolio includes a variety of facilities from product carriers, mega-boxships, dry bulk, multi-purpose vessels to an extensive barge traffic linking the European hinterland. Thanks to its inland location, one of the lesser-known advantages of the port is it is able to work through storms longer than other North Sea ports with more direct exposure.
A curious geographic factor sometimes overlooked with the successful menagerie of ship services is that the Port is located nearly 50 miles inland from the North Sea and is effectively cut off from expanding westward by a strip of the neighboring Netherlands, which the Port of Rotterdam is a part.
But the port, located on the Scheldt River, has a long history of being resourceful and the current five-year (2014-18) Business Plan is a good example of making use of the advantages of the port region’s unique geography. With a year into the five-year plan, the port has already posted impressive numbers and made significant progress on the infrastructure projects designed to build up the port’s various commercial activities.
