Ok of the Harbour Authority of Antwerp to the transfer of the activities of shipowning group MSC in the Deurganck area Dock



The Harbour Authority of Antwerp has given the go-ahead free to the transfer of the activities of the shipowning group Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in the Deurganck area Dock of the Belgian harbour port of call. The Helvetic group had asked for being able to you to move own operations currently on hand having saturated the ability in the Delwaide area Dock and in sight of the breaking in service of ships of greater dimension ( on December 3, 2013 and 11 February 2014).

The Belgian harbour authority has emphasized that group MSC, with a annual traffic of 4,5 million container teu, is the main customer of the port of Antwerp in the segment of the container and that the decision to transfer the activities of the group to the Deurganck Dock is that most logical one as the area already is used by the others two companies that with MSC form the new P3 alliance Network, that is the Danish Maersk Line and the French CMA CGM. Moreover, based on the results of a study, the activity of MSC to Antwerp generates an added value pairs to 2,69 euros to the ton, that is a annual value reported to the 2013 pairs to 154,1 million euros; last year - it has explained the agency - such activity has supported at least job 10.602 places and an ulterior increase will allow, second the forecasts, to create other 760 places of job full-time.

The agency has moreover evidenced that the ability to the MSC Home Terminal to the Delwaide Dock, that Terminal Investment Ltd is managed by the society. (TIL) that it takes part of joint venture the Genevan group in joint with group PSA International of Singapore, entirely is used already by 2010 and that MSC therefore is forced to move volumes of traffic in other ports of the range Amburgo-Le Havre, so that the level of traffic of the group to Antwerp has remained unchanged. The agreement previews that, in sight of the transfer to the Deurganck Dock, PSA Antwerp, the branch of the group PSA that stops also a concession in the western area of the Deurganck Dock, it transfers this concession to a new called society PSA DGD, PSA branch of which TIL it possesses a quota.

The transfer of the operations in the western area of the Deurganck Dock, where joint venture PSA DGD will manage new terminal MSC PSA European Terminal (MPET) that it will have a annual ability to traffic pairs to beyond seven million teu, will involve the cessation of the activity of the MSC Home Terminal.

Port Authority has specified that based on the forecasts the volumes enlivened from MSC and the P3 alliance will saturate time shortly the ability to terminal MPET and is therefore urgent to retrieve ulterior spaces for the development of the activities of the Genevan company and the shipowning alliance. Therefore the Authority has decided to reassign to the joint venture new MPET great part of the area oriental of the Deurganck Dock that currently is in concession to Antwerp Gateway and that it is not used. The duration of such concession will be initially seven-year-old, but - it has specified the Harbour Authority - it will be extended if an equivalent area will not be put on of MPET alternative. The Belgian agency has explained that Antwerp Gateway, that it is a container terminal managed from DP World of Dubay, group that stops 42.5% of the capital of the terminalista society that is participated also by the Israeli Zim (20%), from Chinese COSCO Pacific (20%) from the French CMA CGM/Terminal Link (10%) and from the German Duisport (7.5%), will have however on hand you space necessary for its increase also after the cession of areas to MPET.

According to the forecasts, the transfer of MSC will be completed within the end of 2015.