Economic importance of the Flemish maritime ports: Report 2002

nevertheless serve as a basis in drawing up comparisons with 2001 (table 33). An increase in transhipments wasrecorded, thus following the trend begun in 2000, following six years of decrease. As indicated in point 4.3.1,transhipments at Ostend grew by 85.3 p.c. between 1998 and 2002. Ro-ro activities, which here account for73.4 p.c. of the total, were characterised in 2002 by an historic increase, related to the increased frequency offerry services to Ramsgate and Ipswich and the introduction of a service to Killingholme. The increase in this« traffic is, at Ostend, well ahead of that for Ghent and is beginning to seriously challenge that of Zeebrugge » 52 .Passenger transport recorded a fall of 44.5 p.c., producing a figure of only 394,107 passengers in 2002; the samegoes for car ferry transport which has fallen by 57.1 p.c. The fall in passenger traffic must be considered inrelation to the competition from low-cost airlines and the Channel Tunnel. The reduction in car transit is related inparticular to the withdrawal of the Hoverspeed service to Dover.Unlike the three other ports, 99 p.c. of the services from the port of Ostend are to Europe, and above all to theUnited Kingdom.For those interested additional information on cargo traffic at the port of Ostend in 2002 is presented in table 68 ofannex 8, by categories of goods.52Extract from an article in The Lloyd of 26 February 2003 entitled: « Ostend has increased its market share in 2003 », H. VanDer Zee.NBB WORKING PAPER No. 56 - JUNE 2004 55