Economic importance of the Flemish maritime ports: Report 2002

4.4.6 Cargo traffic in the port of Zeebrugge in 2002SummaryTABLE 42ZEEBRUGGE(thousands of tonnes)Unloaded Loaded Total 2002 Change 2001- 2002(in p.c.)Share 2002(in p.c.)Containers................ 5,260 6,605 11,865 12.1 36.1Roll-on/roll-off........... 5,636 8,015 13,651 - 4.9 41.4Other general cargo. 638 148 786 - 23.8 2.4Liquid bulk................ 4,042 880 4.922 18.9 14.9Dry bulk.................... 1,667 45 1,712 - 13.4 5.2Total......................... 17,243 15,693 32,936 + 2.7 100.0Source: Vlaamse Havencommissie Annual Report 2002Following an average annual fall in traffic of 1.2 p.c. since 1998, a 2.7 p.c. increase was observed in 2002, due togrowth in the container transport lines (36.0 p.c. of total goods transhipped at Zeebrugge). Given the importanceof this activity, the port authorities have for several years been working towards establishing a structure that wouldenable organisational improvements in container transportation via rail, coastal and inland waters to be made.This initiative, now called PortConnect, enabled 65,000 TEU, or 715,000 tonnes, to be transported in 2002. Thedecrease in transhipment of dry bulk is attributable to a fall in sand and gravel supplies. The increase in liquid bulkis due to liquid natural gas (LNG) distribution, which grew by 49.4 p.c. The fall observed in Ro-Ro volumes can beexplained by the decline in traffic with the United Kingdom, in particular following the restructuring of the P&Ofleet. More than 770,000 passengers passed through Zeebrugge port in 2002.For those interested additional information on cargo traffic at the port of Zeebrugge in 2002 is presented intable 69 of annex 8, by categories of goods.4.5 Breakdown of findings by company sizeThis relates only to the findings for port companies in the narrow sense (before allocation of the findings forcompanies situated outside the port areas).TABLE 43 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS BY PORT IN 2002Number of companiesDirect value addedDirect salaried employmentInvestment(millions of euros)(in FTE)(millions of euros)PortLargeSMEsLargeSMEsLargeSMEsLargeSMEscompaniescompaniescompaniescompaniesAntwerp 342 1,112 6,530.2 406.2 53,796 5,676 1,392.0 89.3Ghent 169 508 2,744.6 184.4 25,656 2,653 768.3 34.1Ostend 29 224 263.2 50.6 3,097 862 42.1 16.4Zeebrugge 69 314 554.1 109.1 7,691 1,774 86.9 23.1Total 609 2,158 10,092.1 750.4 90,241 10,965 2,289.3 162.9Source: NBB.The large companies, which in quantitative terms represent only one-fifth of the companies under review,accounted for a total of 89.2 p.c. of overall staff and were responsible for 93.1 p.c. of the VA undertaken in thefour ports. They absorbed 93.4 p.c. of the amounts invested. A breakdown by sector is given in annex 6.NBB WORKING PAPER No. 56 - JUNE 2004 67