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Economic importance of the Flemish maritime ports: Report 2002

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Le Havre:First French port for handling general cargo including containers, second French oil port: itconcentrates mainly on <strong>the</strong> import and export <strong>of</strong> automobiles with <strong>the</strong> United Kingdom. Since <strong>the</strong>Port 2000 project has been implemented, Le Havre is among <strong>the</strong> leaders in terms <strong>of</strong> growth incontainer traffic (+ 12.9 p.c. in <strong>2002</strong>, just behind Hamburg and Antwerp). This port recorded a total<strong>of</strong> more than 68 million tonnes <strong>of</strong> transhipments in <strong>2002</strong>, taking all types toge<strong>the</strong>r (goods, oil,containers, automobiles, etc.).1.2 Maritime goods traffic: comparative analysisIn <strong>2002</strong>, <strong>the</strong> total <strong>maritime</strong> 14 traffic (loadings and unloadings) improved somewhat in all <strong>the</strong> <strong>ports</strong> in <strong>the</strong> range,surprisingly with <strong>the</strong> exception <strong>of</strong> Le Havre (table 1). In <strong>the</strong> ten <strong>ports</strong> (those in <strong>the</strong> range and Ostend) <strong>the</strong> totaltranshipment recorded is in fact 2.6 p.c. greater than that for <strong>the</strong> previous year, since it reached 827.1 milliontonnes. This increase is attributable in <strong>the</strong> first place to <strong>the</strong> <strong>ports</strong> <strong>of</strong> Rotterdam (+ 2.4 p.c.), Hamburg (+ 5.6 p.c.)and Dunkirk (+ 7.0 p.c.), although throughput at <strong>the</strong> port <strong>of</strong> Antwerp only expanded by 1.2 p.c. But this is <strong>the</strong>logical consequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strong growth recorded in Antwerp port traffic in 2000 (+ 12.8 p.c.). The proportion <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> traffic in <strong>the</strong> range (including Ostend) which relates to <strong>the</strong> <strong>Flemish</strong> sea<strong>ports</strong> remained stable at 23.5 p.c. Thetotal traffic for <strong>the</strong> range and Ostend amounted to 15.1 p.c. <strong>of</strong> world <strong>maritime</strong> traffic and has <strong>the</strong>refore recovered afew points after <strong>the</strong> nineties which were marked by significant growth in South-East Asia. The development <strong>of</strong>trade by <strong>the</strong> countries in this zone could however again affect this percentage in future years.TABLE 1TOTAL MARITIME TRAFFIC IN THE HAMBURG - LE HAVRE RANGE(INCLUDING OSTEND)(millions <strong>of</strong> tonnes)1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 <strong>2002</strong> Averagerelativeshare (inp.c.)Relativeshare in<strong>2002</strong> (inp.c.)Hamburg ........................ 72.1 71.1 76.7 75.8 81.0 85.1 92.4 97.6 10.8 11.8Bremen .......................... 31.2 31.6 34.0 34.5 36.0 45.0 46.1 46.6 5.1 5.6Amsterdam .................... 31.2 36.7 36.8 36.1 37.6 44.6 49.3 50.3 5.4 6.1Rotterdam ...................... 292.9 292.0 310.1 314.4 303.4 322.1 314.7 322.1 41.1 38.9Antwerp .......................... 108.1 106.5 111.9 119.8 115.7 130.5 130.1 131.6 15.9 15.9Ghent ............................. 21.6 21.0 23.0 23.6 23.9 24.0 23.5 24.0 3.1 2.9Zeebrugge ..................... 30.6 28.5 32.4 33.3 35.4 35.5 32.1 32.9 4.3 4.0Ostend ........................... 4.6 4.5 4.3 3.9 3.1 4.3 4.8 6.2 0.6 0.8Dunkirk ........................... 39.4 34.9 36.5 39.2 38.3 45.3 44.5 47.6 5.4 5.8Le Havre ........................ 53.8 56.2 59.7 66.9 64.4 68.0 69.0 68.1 8.4 8.2Total for <strong>the</strong> ten <strong>ports</strong> .... 685.5 683.0 725.4 747.6 738.9 804.4 806.4 827.1 100.0 100.0Total world traffic ........... 4,687 4,859 5,092 5,062 5,161 5,434 5,435 5,491Share <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ten <strong>ports</strong> inworld traffic (in p.c.) ....... 14.6 14.1 14.2 14.8 14.3 14.8 14.8 15.1Sources: For traffic in <strong>the</strong> range: Vlaamse Havencommissie Annual <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2002</strong> and data from <strong>the</strong> port authorities – including statisticsfrom <strong>the</strong> Port <strong>of</strong> Rotterdam; for world traffic: Shipping Statistics Yearbook 2003.1.3 Employment in <strong>the</strong> range in <strong>2002</strong>It is ra<strong>the</strong>r difficult to develop a standard way <strong>of</strong> calculating <strong>the</strong> level <strong>of</strong> employment in <strong>the</strong> <strong>ports</strong> in <strong>the</strong> range sinceeach port authority applies its own methods <strong>of</strong> estimation. The definition <strong>of</strong> <strong>maritime</strong> employment poses aparticular problem. The inclusion <strong>of</strong> personnel put at <strong>the</strong> disposal <strong>of</strong> businesses established in <strong>the</strong> port posesano<strong>the</strong>r problem. On <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> figures supplied by <strong>the</strong> previous issues <strong>of</strong> this study (NBB data), <strong>the</strong> port <strong>of</strong>Antwerp, in terms <strong>of</strong> its workforce, was above <strong>the</strong> average for <strong>the</strong> range with 56,400 direct jobs in <strong>2002</strong>. The port<strong>of</strong> Ghent had 27,500 direct jobs. Zeebrugge employed 11,200 people in <strong>the</strong> same year and <strong>the</strong> workforce atOstend was 2,750. The figures obtained after applying <strong>the</strong> new methodology are slightly different (see below).For <strong>the</strong> <strong>ports</strong> <strong>of</strong> Rotterdam, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Bremen, <strong>the</strong> figures supplied by <strong>the</strong> various portauthorities with regard to <strong>the</strong>ir population are 61,000, 56,000, 38,000 and 25,000 units respectively. Although all<strong>the</strong>se figures relate to direct employment, <strong>the</strong>y do not correspond to <strong>the</strong> values which might have been expectedon <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> traffic observed over <strong>the</strong> last few years (table 1). At Rotterdam, for example, <strong>the</strong> method <strong>of</strong>estimating employment seems in effect quite restrictive: only <strong>the</strong> industries which exhibit an immediate economiclink with <strong>the</strong> port are taken into consideration. Over <strong>the</strong> period 1995 – <strong>2002</strong>, Rotterdam itself represented on14Goods shipped through inland navigation are not taken into account in <strong>the</strong>se figures.NBB WORKING PAPER No. 56 - JUNE 2004 5

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