“Shortsea shipping” involves carrying cargo or passengers by sea, but without any ocean crossings. In other words it is continental, not intercontinental. In European terms it covers the Baltic States, Scandinavia and Iceland, the UK and Ireland, the mainland of western Europe, the Iberian peninsula, the Mediterranean countries (including North Africa) and the Black Sea area. Shortsea shipping accounts for 45% of the cargovolume in Antwerp, while shortsea container carrying makes up 40% of all the port’s container trade.

This success is due to the widespread network of shortsea and feeder services. The port of Antwerp offers 280 shortsea departures per month to more than 150 destinations. Liquid bulk accounts for 33% of the shortsea freight, containers 46% and dry bulk 12%. Conventional/breakbulk makes up slightly more than 5% and ro/ro 3%.

Thanks to the feeder services that connect directly with deepsea liner services, Antwerp is continually reinforcing its position as a hub for European transhipment trade. Indeed, the feeder traffic guarantees on-time, cost-effective handling.

With the recent opening of two new container terminals in the Deurganck dock, Antwerp is attracting even more deepsea and feeder services. This capacity expansion ensures plenty of room for growth, with close integration of deepsea and feeder services.

As a port, Antwerp is well aware that shortsea shipping is an important part of the range of options that it aims to offer. Especially for longer distances – for instance from Scandinavia to the Iberian peninsula – shortsea shipping provides an excellent alternative to the often congested European road network. The use of shortsea services based on the port of Antwerp can yield cost savings of up to 6060% compared with traditional road haulage.

To promote the use of shortsea, the Port Authority has modified the port dues so that they no longer form a significant part of the total transport cost, with discounts for regular shortsea services. This promotion policy will be continued in the future, thanks among other things to the EU subsidies for encouraging “motorways of the sea.”

In parallel with this, the port of Antwerp will put additional efforts into further simplifying the customs and administration procedures. There will also be additional exemptions from the pilotage obligation for coastal shipping: ships with an LOA of less than 80 metres will automatically be exempt from the obligation to take on a pilot, while ships with an LOA of 80 to 95 meters can obtain exemption if the ship’s crew is able to meet various criteria.