Antwerp lies along the River Scheldt at the heart of North Western Europe, 30 km away from Brussels (the administrative capital of the European Union), and has 500,000 inhabitants. On a global scale this makes Antwerp a medium-sized city, which however rises to be the fifth largest harbour in the world thanks to its enormous, extensive maritime infrastructure.
Antwerp is precisely what you would expect from a city: heart-warming, unaffected, but also lively and cosmopolitan and variegated. About 20% of the Antwerp population have their roots somewhere abroad. It is a city with a great variety of jobs, which is pleasant to live in.
Architecture, trendy shops, imposing monuments, pleasant cafés, night pubs, and excellent gastronomical restaurants can all be found in the city, which is proud of its son Peter Paul Rubens, the baroque painter of world calibre.
Contemporary creativity and permanent renewal are also two key notions both in the economic and artistic worlds. Antwerp is a city of fashion and the number one city worldwide in the diamond trade.
Antwerp is also proud to have Shanghai as its sister city, since 1986. This year this twinning receives an extra dimension with diverse exchange projects in both cities, on the occasion of the Europalia Festival China.
The fastest route to Europe
Every port services a wider hinterland. Our hinterland is called Europe. The Port of Antwerp is strategically located in the heart of Europe with the fastest, most efficient connections to its major industrial and consumer centres. Combining congestion-free lines with efficient, professional handling, the Port of Antwerp is the port of choice for a wide variety of cargo and offers the capacity, productivity and value-added services you would expect from a port of truly global dimensions.
Global dimensions
The Port of Antwerp currently handles an average annual volume of over 180 million tonnes of international maritime cargo which makes it the fifth largest port in the world and the second largest in Europe.
A multifunctional port
Containers - The Port of Antwerp currently handles an annual volume of over 8.2 million TEU. With ample space for the efficient handling, storage and transhipment of container cargo and easy accessibility for ships with a capacity of up to 10.000 TEU, the Port of Antwerp is one of Europe’s principal hubs for container cargo.
Breakbulk - The Port of Antwerp combines a long tradition in breakbulk cargo with state-ofthe-art infrastructure and a highly-skilled workforce, handling around 24 million tonnes of steel, forest products, fruit, roro and project cargo every year.
Dry bulk - The Port of Antwerp plays a crucial role in the import of raw materials, currently handling an annual volume of some 26 million tonnes of dry bulk cargo.
Liquid bulk - As Europe’s largest distribution and production centre for chemicals and plastics, the Port of Antwerp offers total storage and logistics solutions for virtually any liquid or gaseous cargo from petrochemicals to vegetable oils, with an extensive pipeline network connecting the whole of Europe.
