Antwerp prepares for new trade relationship with Britain
After Brexit, the port of Antwerp is expecting large quantities of cargo to be shifted from the ferries to containerships in short-sea traffic. But the shift to short-sea goods which will be imported or exported to and from the EU via the ferry ports will be subject to more controls and paperwork after Brexit.
The plan is to employ more staff to deal with the increased checking of goods and documents, which will lead to higher costs, more traffic congestion and longer delivery times in ferry traffic. “We have already hired 386 additional full-time employees. With 930,000 more import declarations and 4.5 million more export declarations the challenge is enormous,” said Kristian Vanderwaeren, general director of the Belgium customs authority.
The port of Antwerp wants to make at least some contribution towards solving the problems caused by Brexit. With 17 million t of cargo, the United Kingdom was the port of Antwerp’s second largest trading partner in 2018. The most important types of goods are chemicals, petroleum products and fast-moving products such as foodstuffs, toiletries and cosmetics.
Existing and new short-sea connections between Antwerp and the British Isles will no doubt gain importance in the run-up to Brexit and after the 31 October 2019. The services will be expanded based on existing connections with nine British and Irish ports. (fd)