Economic importance of the Flemish maritime ports: Report 2002

• ExplanationsThe present sample includes more companies than the 2001 edition of the report. In fact, the previousmethodology considered 1,920 companies compared to 3,356 in the new methodology. In addition to accountbeing taken of small enterprises established outside of the port areas (maritime cluster), selection by branch ismeant to be the most exhaustive possible. Below are some examples which aim to explain the changes observedin graphs 9 and 10.• Some companies have been added to the sample following adoption of the new methodology:o Registration of wholesale companies such as Ostend Pharma and Oswald De bruycker(Ostend);o Registration of all the companies active in the building and repair of vessels, such as NieuweScheldewerven;o Companies established within the port zone which were not taken into account previously, suchas Daikin Europe in Ostend;o Registration of all the port workers in Antwerp (C.E.P.A.).• Pursuant to the new methodology, other companies are no longer taken into account in the sample:o Foreign companies which do not file accounts with the Central Balance Sheet Office, such asP&O North Sea Ferries and Hoverspeed Holyman;o Certain non-profit institutions (NPIs) like De Oesterbank.8 Comments• Some companies that are not required to file annual accounts at the Central Balance Sheet Office are notconsidered in this study (this is the case, for example, for the self-employed and some partnerships, nonprofitinstitutions and foreign companies).• The methodology is based on an examination of micro-economic data. If at all possible, any error or omissionshould be corrected before analysis;• The grouping of branches is based on an analysis of each company’s NACE-Bel code. It is the dominantbranch that is selected for this allocation, on the basis of the company’s core business. As this may changeover time, the classification may also change or, inversely, no longer correspond to the company’s economicreality, through failure to change the code. This, like the assumptions underlying the assessment of indirecteffects, calls for caution when examining the findings;• Companies resulting from the breaking up of groups that were already part of the sample are also included inthe study, provided they satisfy the selection criteria given in point 3.2 of this annex;• The importance of the public administrations is under-estimated given that only those services that are ofinterest to the port(s) are taken into account. A list of public companies or administrations included in thisstudy is given in annex 4.NBB WORKING PAPER No. 56 - JUNE 2004 85