According to the port the decrease occured in the container business. Howeverr on the upside other port sectors showed an increase. (figures mentioned are an estimation)
Ro-Ro traffic rose by 5.9 % to a volume of 13.1 million tons. The traffic increased to Finland, Ireland and Spain. A total of 1,050,000 trucks transited in the port (+3.8 %).
Traffic of new cars grew by 10.5 % to a total of 1,777,500 units. Despite the important impact of the Japan tsunami wich affected the imports of new cars in Zeebrugge during 5 months.
The worldwide container business is facing turbulent times. The stakes are high on the Europe/Asia route. The scaling-up and the expansion of capacity emerge on a moment of economic growth recession in Asia and stagnation in Europe.
Zeebrugge container traffic, which is focused on the Europe/Asia trade, was affected by the deteriorating economic situation and the slow-down of the Europe/Asia trade. Various deepsea services have been reshuffled. In Zeebrugge this also affected the related container feedering services.The container volume dropped by 11.1% to 2,222,000 teus. This is just beyond the 2008 result.
The total liquid bulk grew by 6.4% to 8.5 million tons, 5.2 million tons of which is lng. 2011 was a record year with 81 lng calls instead of 77 in 2010. Solid bulk fell back by 2.8% to 1.6 million tons. Conventional cargo increased by 4 % to 1.2 million tons. More wood pulp was handled.
2011 was a record year for the cruises in Zeebrugge. The coastal port welcomed 75 cruise vessels in comparison with 66 in 2010 (+13.6%)