Port of Antwerp

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Part of Antwerp's old waterfront looking north to the Noorderterras café building

A view of MSC's container terminal in the Delwaide Dock. An idea of the size of this terminal can be obtained from the fact that each of the six berthed ships are at least 250 m long

The Siberia bridge with the Siberia Dock grain silo in the background

The Port of Antwerp is a port accessible to capesize ships in the heart of Europe. Antwerp stands at the upper end of the tidal estuary of the Scheldt. The estuary is navigable by ships of more than 100,000 Gross Tons as far as 80 km inland. The inland location means that the port of Antwerp enjoys a more central location in Europe than the majority of North Sea ports. Antwerp's docks are connected to the hinterland by rail, waterway and road. As a result the port of Antwerp has become one of Europe's largest sea ports, ranking third behind Rotterdam and Hamburg for container throughput in 2007.^[1] Its international rankings vary from 11th to 17th (AAPA). In 2007 the Port of Antwerp handled 182,900,000 MT of trade^[2] and offered liner services to 800 different maritime destinations^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Recent History

This 1897 map clearly shows the state of dock development at the end of the 19th century. The docks on the south side of the city (at bottom) were filled in in the 1970s.

Antwerp's potential was recognized by Napoleon Bonaparte and he ordered the construction of Antwerp's first lock and dock in 1811. Called the Bonaparte Dock it was joined by a second dock - called the Willem Dock after the Dutch King - in 1813. When the Belgian revolution broke out in 1830 there was a well-founded fear that the Dutch would blockade the Scheldt again, but in the event they contented themselves with levying a stiff toll. Fortunately the young Belgium had friends in Britain and particularly in the person of Lord Palmerston, who believed the existence of Belgium would be beneficial to Britain, and that in consequence it was important to make sure that the newly born state was economically viable. With his support, the Belgian government was able to redeem the Dutch Toll in 1863. By that time the Kattendijk Dock had been completed 1860 and the all important Iron Rhine Railway to the Ruhr had been finished in 1879. Antwerp then experienced a second golden age and by 1908 eight docks had been constructed. The opening of the Royers Lock, commenced in 1905, meant that ships drawing up to 31 feet of water were able to enter the existing docks and access the new Lefèbvre and America docks. Such was the situation at the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918).

The British, and Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, in particular, were well aware of the Port of Antwerp's strategic importance. So much so that Churchill arrived in Antwerp on 4 October 1914 to take charge of the defence of the city and its port.

When peace returned work started on the Grote Doorsteek, an ambitious plan which ultimately resulted in the extension of the docklands on the right bank of the Scheldt to the Dutch border. The construction of the Berendrecht Lock was the crowning element of this plan. It is the world's largest shipping lock and was inaugurated in 1989. Since 1989, development has been concentrated on the creation of fast turnround tidal berths, both on the Right Bank (Europa Terminal and the North Sea Terminal) and on the Left Bank (Deurganck Dock).^[3]

[edit] Port lay-out

This aerial photograph strikingly illustrates the extent of Antwerp's infrastructure before works started on the Deurganck Dock. The Scheldt runs from South to North between the geometrical outlines of the docks on the Left and Right Banks. Other details include the Brussels Ship Canal at bottom centre, the Albert Canal (the thin line running South East from the docks), the Rhine-Scheldt Junction Canal (top centre) and the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal at top left.^[4]

[edit] The right bank

With the opening of the Berendrecht Lock (1989), a crowning achievement in developing the right bank dock complex was obtained. With a length of 500 m between the lock gates and a width of 68 m, the Berendrecht lock is the largest lock in the world. This lock has a depth of 13.50 m, which makes the sill depth at mean high water equal to 17.75 m. Apart from the Lock, still further development of the right bank has been undertaken on the banks of the Scheldt outside the dock complex. Two large container terminals have been opened here. In 1990, the Europe terminal was operative, while secondly, the North Sea terminal became operative in 1997. The older areas of the port, such as the Bonaparte dock, are being modernised as needs dictate to make them suitable for modern cargo handling operations. Among this modernisation, an upgrade of the Amerika dock, the Albert dock and the third harbour dock are being done to make them accessible to Panamax ships, which have a draught of 42 feet (13 m). Other modernisation projects being undertaken is the Delwaide dock, which will soon be able to serve the latest generation of container vessels. The Southern part of the Delwaide dock, the MSC Home Terminal is a partnership between PSA Hesse-Noord Natie and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Due to a total quay length of more than 2 km, several ships can be handled at the same time. The MSC Home Terminal has an annual capacity of more than 3.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

[edit] The left bank

This side of the Scheldt is still in development. First, an area of 43.6 square kilometres is being developed. In this area, priority is given to the expansion of port and industry. In addition to this a northern expansion zone of roughly 14.4 square kilometres is planned. Central in the left bank is the Waasland canal. This canal connects the different docks to the river Scheldt. The main dock is the Vrasene Dock. This dock offers 4.5 km of berths, and the terminals that have been built around it are specialised in forest products, fruit juice concentrates, cars and plastic granulates. In 1996, the Verrebroek dock construction started. In this dock, the total quay length will be 5 km, of which 3.1 km is already available. The main purpose of the dock will be to handle non-containerised general cargo.

[edit] The Deurganck Dock

Since the existing container terminals on the right bank of the Scheldt have reached their maximum capacity and the container freight volume keeps increasing (in 2007 it expanded by 8.2% to 8 million TEU)^[1], a new dock complex was constructed: the Deurganck dock.^[5] The first terminal in this dock was opened on July 6th, 2005. The full capacity of the dock is estimated at more than 8 to 9 million TEU. The Deurganck dock has a length of 2.5 km and consists of a total of 1,200,000 cubic metres of concrete. The construction of the Deurganck dock however is still an issue since the future of a local village, Doel, can not be guaranteed.^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Flanders Institute for Logistics (VIL)

[edit] External links

• http://www.portofantwerp.be/
• http://www.dockwork.be The port of Antwerp in pictures