The third quarter of 2026 is the first this year that the port system of Antwerp-Bruges closed with growth on the same period as last year. Between July and September, about 67 million tons of goods handled, with an increase in by +2.5% over the corresponding period of 2025. In the first quarter This year, the percentage change was -3.1% and in 2015 second by -1.7%. The result of the first quarter, however, was not was enough to erase the accumulated delay, and in the first nine months the total traffic is 200.9 million tons, down by -0.8% compared to the January-September period of 2025.

In the third quarter of 2026, the strongest push for came from the containers, with the port having handled about 3.6 million TEUs (+5.7%). This is the best quarter from the fourth quarter of 2020. By weight goods containerized were about 38.6 million tons (+5.8%). The Belgian port authority specified that the beginning of the third was not easy: in mid-July a container damaged with hydrofluoric acid blocked the operations in the Deurganck Dock, an event that was added to a first half of the year already marked by bad weather, strikes and an oil spill in the same basin. Since the beginning of August, however, the trend has reversed and The recovery has brought the balance of the first nine months of 2026 into positive, with 10.4 million TEUs handled (+1.2%), even if in weight containers remained -0.6% below 2025 as they amounted to 112.8 million tonnes. Growth was driven by voids (+11.7% in TEUs in the first nine months), while fell by -1.3%. In addition, imports increased, while exports remained under pressure, with an imbalance that forces them to reposition many empty containers, especially towards Asia.

The plus sign is even clearer on the dry bulk cargo. In the third quarter, volumes rose by about +35%, thanks to a +47% of incoming goods. They weigh - he specified the port authority - the new iron ore flows from Liberia, Canada and Venezuela, as well as rapeseed (+80%). Over nine months, the sector grew by +13% to 11.4 million tons. However, fertilizers, which are the main category, lost -1.1%.

In the ro-ro cargo segment, there were about 5.5 million tons (+5.9%) were handled and in the nine 16.5 million months (+5.5%). The cars transited in the quarter were been about 870 thousand (+7.6%) and in the nine months new cars were 2.56 million (+9.3%), with imports up by +13.7% thanks to China (+38.1%) and Japan (+10%). In addition, the connections with Ireland (+9.1%) and Scandinavia (+25.9%), while those with the United Kingdom (-4%) and the Iberian Peninsula fell (-25,1%).

On the other hand, conventional freight traffic has lost almost -27% in the third quarter, and the decline rose to -16.6% over the nine months (6.2 million tonnes). The largest weight is iron and steel sector, equal to over 70% of the sector, with a -30.1% in the quarter and -17.5% in the nine months. In particular, steel imports plummeted by -43.8% in the third quarter. The Port Authority recalled that since the last first July European safeguard quotas have been reduced and imports above the threshold pay a duty of 50%. Since the beginning of the year, steel has also been included in the CBAM, the carbon border adjustment mechanism. They also count weak demand, energy costs and overcapacity global. Exports to the United States lost their -22,7%. The body specified that fruit and vegetables are fine (+7.6%), while timber fell by -39.8%.

The quarter was also weak for liquid bulk cargo, with about 16.5 million tons (-6.3%). The decrease is -3.4% over the nine months, to 54 million tons. The conflict in the Middle East: since March it has not been liquefied natural gas from Qatar and since mid-May Diesel supplies from the region stopped. LNG deliveries to Zeebrugge fell by -52.1% in the quarter, while those from the The United States, diverted to Asia, collapsed by -79.2%. In the nine months diesel (-28.8%) and kerosene (-39.9%) traffic decreased significantly, while those of naphtha (+19.3%) and oil fuel (+42.1%) increased.

As for cruise traffic, in the nine months the system The Belgian port has welcomed 136 cruise ships, with 342,441 passengers (-13.3%).