Port of Antwerp: maritime traffic of chemical and petroleum products grows by more than 30%

In the chemicals and petroleum derivatives sectors, Antwerp has gained a significant market share in the liquid bulk sector for north-western European ports. Liquid bulk traffic in Antwerp rose by 31.4%. to 59,493,776 tonnes over the past 12 months.

Antwerp as an international storage and distribution hub

The petroleum derivatives segment, with products such as petrol, diesel, domestic heating oil and kerosene, achieved the highest growth, with 43.1 million tonnes maritime traffic. Since 2000, the port of Antwerp recorded a staggering 213 % growth in this segment, making it the fastest grower in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam range (ARA range) for these products.

These traffic figures are the result of investments by a number of major port companies in Antwerp and also prove that the Port Authority’s decision to free up space for such tank storage effectively meets the market demand. This has resulted in a boost in the volume of petroleum derivatives.

Sea-Tank Terminals, a Belgian group, managed to attract several global energy companies and traders and to expand its storage terminal capacity. Also the substantial investments made by Antwerp Terminal Processing Company (ATPC – part of VTTI terminal group) in the expansion of their tank storage combined with the deepening of the maritime access by the Port Authority contributed to the handsome growth in this segment.

Maritime traffic of crude oil recorded a 83.4% increase (to 4.7 million tonnes) following the takeover and relaunch of the PetroPlus refinery under the name of IBR by Gunvor, an internationally recognised energy trading group.

Various Antwerp industrial players continued to expand their production: Total, Ferro, Kuwait Petroleum International, BP Lubes, Air Liquide and Praxair announced major investments in Antwerp. The Exxon Mobil refinery is currently examining plans for further investment in their Antwerp plant. Antwerp is also an important international trade centre for lubricants and bunker fuels.

In addition, tank storage companies such as Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerpen, LBC, Vopak, ADPO, NoordNatie Odfjell Terminal and ITC Rubis ensured that tank storage capacity in the port has increased by 151% over the past ten years.

The port currently has 15 tank storage terminals with a total capacity of 6.4 million m³ and the storage companies have indicated their intention to continue to expand in the near future, thereby responding to the planned investments of the production companies and the increasing international trade flows.  During the last ten years Belgium has thus become the leader in Europe for imports of chemicals from the Gulf States.

Strong petrochemical industry cluster

The Antwerp chemical industry is one of the major chemical clusters in the world, and companies like Lanxess, BASF, Ineos Oxide, FRX Polymers and Evonik Degussa all reported significant investments in 2013.

Together with the associated increase in tank storage capacity for chemicals, this will further strengthen Antwerp’s market position in Europe in the field of chemical logistics.

The maritime bulk chemical cargo registered in 2013 a leap forward close to 10 % versus the traffic realised in 2012, to above 11 Mio tons.

The chemical products increased by 205 % versus 2000.

No wonder that the Antwerp Port area is worldwide one of the most specialised Port area’s for value added logistics for chemicals.

The influence of the above development on the added value of the port of Antwerp is illustrated by the annual report of the National Bank of Belgium.

The recent flash estimate with results for 2012 shows that the port of Antwerp accounts for 60% of the total added value of €16.1 billion achieved by all Belgian ports.  Among the top 10 companies responsible for this result, there are 7 companies from the Antwerp petrochemical cluster, both in terms of employment and in terms of investments.

The port of Antwerp each year transports a product volume of 140 million m³ via pipeline, or 1 m³ per square metre port area.

The tank storage companies and the production sites are connected by 1,000 km of pipelines. They account for nearly 90% of the liquid cargo transport within the port.

As Europe’s biggest ethylene producer, Antwerp is connected to the ARG network, the ethylene pipeline network that connects the Belgian, Dutch and German chemical industries.   The INEOS group chose Antwerp as the most suitable location for their multi-billion investment in a new European ethylene storage site.

Furthermore, there is a large number of pipelines running from Antwerp to Terneuzen, Rotterdam, Feluy and the Rhine-Ruhr region.

At present a site survey is being started up for the development of a corridor between the chemical cluster in Antwerp and chemical companies in Limburg, the Netherlands and the German Ruhr region.

Port-centric logistics is gaining momentum in worldwide petrochemical supply chains

The fact that the port of Antwerp is home to Europe’s largest petrochemical cluster, implies that a large volume of base cargo is present, which draws other players to the port; however, the port as such also has a number of key assets:

– geographical location: 80 km inland, in the heart of Europe’s consumer market

– access: it accommodates the largest container ships, largest gas tankers, tankers (up to LR2) and parcel tankers

– market leader in Europe in regular container line services to the US, South America, (West) Africa, India and the Middle East

– hinterland: efficient connections to the European hinterland, via road, rail, inland waterways, short sea shipping and pipelines.

Especially the connections by waterway, rail and motorway to the neighbouring countries are of vital importance to Antwerp. A new web tool now enables shippers to easily identify the most interesting transport option available to them.

The web tool provides an overview of all deep sea and short sea departures from and to Antwerp, an interactive map with an overview of all container terminals and their services, and an online route planner with all intermodal connections between Antwerp and 185 inland terminals in Europe.

http://www.portofantwerp.com/en/connectivity

Furthermore, “Port of Antwerp Intermodal Solutions” was set up, which aims to develop and support new intermodal connections to various European regions.

Room for the future

The Antwerp Port Authority also invests, in collaboration with the various Flemish and Belgian governments, to consolidate its position of second largest port in Europe.

Work is currently in progress on the impressive Deurganck dock lock – the world’s biggest lock – which is due to become operational in 2016.  This lock will provide seagoing vessels with easy access to the dock facilities on the left bank.

The Port Authority’s concession policy ensures that the available port grounds are optimally used and that new investments are in line with its strategy and take into account various factors such as sustainable development, added-value creation, competitively positive environment, and care for the environment.

The Antwerp specialist logistics service providers are known worldwide for their innovative, flexible and customer-oriented approach. This is often expressed as the Antwerp “can do” attitude and is currently reflected in business cases as part of the “Everything is Possible at the Port of Antwerp” campaign.   (read more at http://www.portofantwerp.com/everythingispossible )

The Antwerp logistics service providers stand out for their high productivity, outstanding expertise and language skills. They look for a tailor-made supply chain solution in accordance with the highest Safety, Security, Health, Environment and Quality (SSHEQ) standards.

State-of- the-art storage facilities are available for all types of dangerous goods, powders, plastics, liquid bulk and products for the food, feed and pharmaceutical industries.

Alongside these storage facilities there are various companies specializing in value added services such as repackaging cargo to all types of formats and sizes, labelling, quality control, inventory management and distribution.

The port of Antwerp is also known for its specialization in the handling, storage and repackaging of industrial raw materials such as plastics. The granulates are stored in bags in pallets, in octabins, in big bags or as bulk in silos.

The strong presence of these logistics service providers makes Antwerp an extensive platform for the storage and distribution of not only liquid bulk chemicals, but also granulates and powders.

Special link with the Belgian pharma cluster

Logistics service providers in the port work with a GDP certificate (Good Distribution Practice) for the storage of pharmaceuticals and health care products and therefore have the necessary licences for the packaging of these products. Health care producers can at all times rely on the quality handling of their goods.

Sustainable port

The Antwerp Port Authority recently won the Lean & Green award for its commitment to reducing the CO₂ emissions of its logistics activities by 20% over the next five years.

There are also all kinds of initiatives through which the Port Authority encourages and facilitates the use of LNG as fuel for shipping. On behalf of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAHP), the Port of Antwerp is chairing a worldwide working group that supervises and coordinates the introduction of LNG as shipping fuel.

Safe port

The Antwerp Port Authority regularly organises disaster exercises in which the coordination and collaboration between the various authorities and intervention crews is put to the test.

One such exercise was recently organised for civil protection organisations from five European countries:  Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Slovenia.

The Port Authority also compiled a European Exercitium handbook for maritime security which assists companies with their safety drills.

In addition, the Port Authority developed a “Port of Antwerp security game” to raise the awareness of everyone within the port about possible safety and security violations. A sustained effort to continually improve safety is in fact a basic requirement for an international port such as Antwerp!