Port Authority takes stake in Beverdonk Container Terminal

Tuesday, 1 June 2010 | Leadership in Distribution

Antwerp Port Authority in Belgium is taking a stake in the Beverdonk Container Terminal, the open access terminal along the bank of the Albert canal in Grobbendonk. With this stake the Port Authority seeks to offer a neutral platform on the Albert canal for port users.

The move further emphasises the Port Authority's hinterland policy aimed at among other things increasing the share of barge and rail transport in the modal split and giving the the port greater clout in the logistics chain. Taking traffic off the road and promoting inland waterway transport are also important reasons behind the initiative. In this way projects are being set up outside the physical borders of the Antwerp port area. The port seeks to make maximum use of the Albert canal and to optimise its connections with Limburg and Liège.

The Beverdonk Container Terminal will start with an annual capacity of 70,000 TEU, which can eventually be expanded to 300,000 TEU. The terminal will be operated as a "transferium" i.e. a consolidation point for freight being carried to or from the port of Antwerp by barge1. In this way part of the transport to and from the port will be taken off the road, just beyond the area that is liable to congestion (i.e. the point where the E313 connects to the E34).

The terminal is expected to be operational by late 2011 or early 2012. It will be operated by DP World, which will use this open access terminal as part of its European network. Adjoining the terminal will be 350,000 m² of logistics warehouses developed by Groep Heylen and Van Wellen, thus creating an integrated, multimodal logistics hub.