In 2024, freight traffic in the port system of Antwerp-Zeebrugge increased by +2.3% year-on-year growth that occurred in the first three quarters to stop in the last quarterly period of 2024 when about 67.2 million tons were handled, volume similar to that of the October-December quarter of 2023. In stagnation of traffic in the fourth quarter of 2015 last year was determined by the -16% reduction of liquid bulk volumes, which fell to 19 million Tons. On the other hand, dry bulk cargo increased with over 3.8 million tons (+4%) as well as miscellaneous goods, with the containerized traffic which amounted to 36.6 million tons (+9%) with a handling of containers equal to almost 3.4 million TEUs (+12.5%), with rolling stock totalling 5.2 million tonnes (+4%) and the most of 2.4 million tons (+11%).

The overall traffic figure handled in the whole of 2024 is 277.7 million tonnes compared to 271.4 million tonnes in the previous year. Containerized traffic recorded a significant growth of +8.9% to 148.9 million tonnes, volume that was achieved with a movement of containers equal to over 15.3 million TEUs (+8.1%). Light the increase in the total dry bulk of more than 14.9 million tonnes (+0.4%), with the largest volume of traffic, that of fertilizers, which showed a growth of +22.9% thanks to a strong recovery after the declines of 2022 and 2023; Other types of solid bulk such as scrap are also on the rise (+3.5%), non-ferrous minerals (+12.5%) and construction (+11.3%), while coal decreased by -35,4%. Liquid bulk cargo fell by -5.8% with 83.6 million tons, a decrease that was mainly determined from the reduction of liquid fuels and natural gas liquefied (-21.9%), as well as diesel (-22.3%) due to low demand and high inventories, while others fuels showed variable results: petrol (-0.4%), kerosene (+14.8%), naphtha (-2.0%), lubricants (+35.7%) and gas liquefied oil (+5.5%); liquid chemicals have recorded strong growth (+14.8%), mainly due to the significant increase in biofuels (+60.1%), and also chemical gases (+9.5%) and basic chemicals (+11.5%) marked. Rolling stock decreased with 20.3 million tons (-3.4%), while conventional goods, with over 9.9 million tonnes, remained stable (+0.1%) despite the sharp contraction in forest products (-21.7), paper and cellulose (-31.9%) and building materials (-23.8%) mainly offset by the increase in iron and steel (+3.8%) and fresh fruit (+17.0%). New factory cars have suffered a sharp reduction to 3.0 million vehicles compared to almost 3.6 million in 2023.