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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shipments of chemicals
through the port of Antwerp, Belgium, declined 8.9% in 2020 compared to 2019,
although no full-year chemical volumes total has been made available, said Chemweek.
Annual
liquid bulk volumes declined by 4.2% in total year on year (YOY) to 69 million
metric tons (MMt) in 2020, with crude oil shipments plummeting 60% YOY due to
reduced refining activities, says Port of Antwerp. Throughput of oil
derivatives, however, recovered with growth of 3.4% despite an initial fall in
demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp drop in oil prices, it
says. Fertilizer shipments also declined YOY, but no specific volume figure was
given.
The port’s overall throughput last year totaled 230.8 MMt of
cargo, a fall of 3.1% compared with 2019, with the relatively small decline due
largely to “buoyant container throughput rates,” which set a new record, it
says. Container throughput surpassed the 12 million twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEUs) mark for the first time ever in 2020, totaling 139 MMt, equating to
growth of 1.3% compared with 2019, it says.
"We were caught up in a
storm in 2020, but we stayed upright. The port has even set another record in
container throughput. This enabled us to limit the damage due to losses in other
segments and to present better figures than other ports,” says Jacques
Vandermeiren, Port of Antwerp’s CEO. Vandermeiren remains “convinced” that the
ports ongoing projects, such as its carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction project
Antwerp, a recently formed hydrogen coalition, and the development of the new
NextGen District will be “major game changers within the next 10
years."
We remind
that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year
on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first
eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation,
polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the
January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form
rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of
polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by
17.1% year on year. |
