Port of Antwerp said its container volume surpassed one million TEUs in September, the first time since April when global shipping started to feel the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic.

Europe's second-largest seaport said after nine months, the total throughput has decreased by 4.4% compared to last year.

"Thanks to container handling, which has maintained the status quo and has been picking up since July, the port of Antwerp is able to limit the damage caused by the decline in the throughput of all goods flows. Compared to most other ports in the Hamburg-Le Havre range, the port is holding up very well," it said in a statement.

Despite the impact of the corona crisis on global production and logistics chains, and the following worldwide drop in demand, the port of Antwerp is holding strong in these very difficult times, it added.

Container traffic continues to pick up

Port of Antwerp said since July, larger volumes have been recorded in container handling again, after reaching rock bottom in May and June.

In September, throughput surpassed 1 million TEU again for the first time since April. In the third quarter, growth occurred mainly in container traffic to the Far East and within Europe as a result, container traffic remained almost unchanged on an annual basis, with -0.2% in TEU compared to last year.

The number of blank sailings has been declining since August and shipping companies are also organising extra runs outside the regular sailing schedules, which is largely compensating for the effect of the blank sailings.

Permanent drop in the break bulk segment

Nonetheless, the Port noted that both global trade turmoil and the corona crisis continue to have a clearly negative effect on goods flows in the conventional break bulk segment, especially on steel, the main goods group within this segment, resulting in a 20.3% decrease in total break bulk throughput at the end of the third quarter.

The automotive sector also continues to feel the consequences of the crisis with "no clear recovery" in September.

Seagoing vessels decreases

In the period January-September, Port of Antwerp said 10,241 seagoing vessels called at the port, representing a decrease of 5.3% compared to the same period in 2019. The gross tonnage of these vessels fell by 6.3%.

"The impact of the standstill of the global supply chain as a result of the corona crisis can still be felt. The prospect of Brexit also leads to uncertainty in the market. Thanks to container traffic picking up, the impact on the total throughput in Antwerp remains limited. 2020 will certainly not be a record year like the past seven years, but thanks to our resilience and container handling we are able to limit the damage," said Jacques Vandermeiren, Port of Antwerp CEO.

Meanwhile, Annick De Ridder, Port Alderman cited the Port's relatively stable performance to its diverse operations.

"Our port is holding up better than most other, comparable ports in the Hamburg-Le Havre range. The port's versatility and resilience are the result of its great diversity of segments, its wide geographical spread, and the presence of the largest integrated chemical cluster in Europe," she said.