The port on the left bank of the Scheldt, as part of the port of Antwerp, proved more than ever to be the spearhead of the Flemish economy in 2020. Despite the many restrictive measures companies had to take into account, the port of Antwerp remained operational. And that translated into another record for the port on the left bank of the Scheldt in terms of employment, among other things.
With 21,031 direct employees, the port on the left bank of the Scheldt achieved record employment for the tenth year in a row. In the part of the port that is situated in Beveren, employment actually increased by 4% compared to 2019. The number of cross-border workers employed as permanent employees at the port on the left bank of the Scheldt also continued to rise. And yet the effects of the COVID-19 crisis were also noticeable in the port of Antwerp. The port on the left bank of the Scheldt experienced a decrease in maritime traffic of 0.7%.
"But there is nevertheless one sector that actually increased. By far the majority of goods passing through the port on the left bank of the Scheldt did so in containers: a whopping 88% or 103,827,046 tons. This means that the share of containers in the total freight traffic in the port on the left bank of the Scheldt is still much higher than the figure of 60% recorded for the port of Antwerp as a whole. Meanwhile, as much as three quarters of the port of Antwerp's container traffic takes place on the left bank of the Scheldt. These figures demonstrate once again that the port remains a very important spearhead in the Flemish economy, even when circumstances are difficult. And this immediately makes clear why the complex project, 'Extra Container Capacity Antwerp' is a necessity."
Boudewijn Vlegels, Chairperson of the Executive Board
Projects such as Logigrid, which examines how logistics companies can optimally cooperate around energy, or the expansion of the wind farm of Wind aan de Stroom and the drawing up of management plans for temporary and permanent nature reserves show how much economic activity and sustainability go hand in hand for MLSO.
You can discover all this and more below in MLSO's interactive annual report: