The range of regular departures to a huge number of destinations is an important advantage of Antwerp. With more than 300 liner services to over 800 destinations Antwerp is able to offer fast, reliable connections with ports all over the world.

The number of seagoing ships calling at the port of Antwerp totalled 13,923 in 2009. The average size of ships also rose sharply, to 19,124 GRT.

Deepening of the river Scheldt on the Dutch side of the border will start on 12 February 2010, in continuation of the work that already started on the Flemish side in 2007. The deepening offers great advantages for the accessibility of the port of Antwerp. Apart from permitting wider tide windows, it is expected that container ships with greater draughts will be able to sail downstream after the deepening work, so that vessels will be able to leave the port with a draught of at least 15 m, depending on the ship.

The treaty entitled “Development Sketch 2010 for the Scheldt Estuary" signed on 21 December 2005 between the Netherlands and Flanders lays down that the navigation channel will be widened and deepened so as to increase the tide-independent navigation from the present draught of 11.90 m to 13.10 m. In nautical terms a keel clearance of 12.5% has to be allowed on the Scheldt on the Dutch side. This means that under the terms of the treaty the Scheldt will be deepened to a level of 14.70 m at average low spring tide. The keel clearance includes a margin for the squat effect (the fact that ships under way have a greater draught), plus a safety margin for ship movements under wave action, a margin for sudden silting up between two soundings and a dredging tolerance. 

The deepening of the Scheldt also offers great advantages for tide-dependent navigation. In the first instance, the tide windows on the Scheldt will be considerably widened, thus further improving the safety of shipping. The wider tide windows will also permit ships with greater draughts to travel on the Scheldt.

At the moment, ships travelling upstream to Antwerp have a depth of up to 15.56 m available to them. For sailing downstream new regulations were drawn up by the Common Nautical Authority, under which certain container carriers have up to 14.80 m available, tide-dependent, and depending also on their speed and sailing characteristics.

It is also expected that after the deepening work the maximum depth of container ships sailing downstream can be increased, permitting a downstream draught of at least 15 m, depending on the speed and sailing characteristics of the ship. It goes without saying that the hydrological and meteorological conditions play an important role. As in the past, the necessary investigations into these aspects will be carried out by the Agency for Maritime Services and Coast of the Flemish government. The new maximum permitted draughts after the deepening work will be determined gradually, on the basis of tests in the hydrological laboratory, test sailings and the experience gained.