Economic Importance of the Belgian Ports : Flemish Maritime Ports, Liège Port Complex and the Port of Brussels – Report 2006
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Economic importance of the Belgian ports : Flemish maritime ports, Liège port complex and the port of Brussels – Report 2006 Working Paper Document by Saskia Vennix June 2008 No 134 Editorial Director Jan Smets, Member of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Belgium Statement of purpose: The purpose of these working papers is to promote the circulation of research results (Research Series) and analytical studies (Documents Series) made within the National Bank of Belgium or presented by external economists in seminars, conferences and conventions organised by the Bank. The aim is therefore to provide a platform for discussion. The opinions expressed are strictly those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bank of Belgium. Orders For orders and information on subscriptions and reductions: National Bank of Belgium, Documentation - Publications service, boulevard de Berlaimont 14, 1000 Brussels Tel +32 2 221 20 33 - Fax +32 2 21 30 42 The Working Papers are available on the website of the Bank: http://www.nbb.be © National Bank of Belgium, Brussels All rights reserved. Reproduction for educational and non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged. ISSN: 1375-680X (print) ISSN: 1784-2476 (online) NBB WORKING PAPER No. 134 - JUNE 2008 Abstract This paper is an annual publication issued by the Microeconomic Analysis service of the National Bank of Belgium. The Flemish maritime ports (Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend, Zeebrugge), the Autonomous Port of Liège and the port of Brussels play a major role in their respective regional economies and in the Belgian economy, not only in terms of industrial activity but also as intermodal centres facilitating the commodity flow. This update paper1 provides an extensive overview of the economic importance and development of the Flemish maritime ports, the Liège port complex and the port of Brussels in the period 2001 - 2006, with an emphasis on 2006. The port of Brussels has been included in the analysis for the first time. Focusing on the three major variables of value added, employment and investment, the report also provides some information about the financial situation in each port except for Brussels. These observations are linked to a more general context, along with a few cargo statistics. Annual accounts data from the Central Balance Sheet Office were used for the calculation of direct effects, the study of financial ratios and the analysis of the social balance sheet. The indirect effects of the activities concerned were estimated in terms of value added and employment, on the basis of data from the National Accounts Institute. The developments concerning economic activity in the six ports in 2005 - 2006 are summarised in this table: Changes from 2005 to 2006 Value added Employment Investment Tonnage (in percentages) (current prices) (Full-Time (current prices) (metric tonnes) Equivalents) Flemish maritime ports Direct - 0.8 + 1.8 - 30.9 + 6.3 Indirect + 6.0 + 0.7 - (seaborne) Total + 2.5 + 1.1 - Liège port complex Direct + 3.6 - 2.3 + 6.0 + 1.3 Indirect + 4.8 + 0.1 - (inland) Total + 4.2 - 0.9 - Port of Brussels Direct + 7.0 - 0.8 + 31.3 + 0.2 Indirect + 8.1 - 2.0 (inland) Total + 7.5 - 1.5 In terms of quantity of cargo handled, 2006 was an excellent year for the Flemish maritime ports as a whole, driven by the world trade expansion. Direct value added rose in all Flemish port, except for Antwerp. Direct employment also increased, mainly in the maritime branches as a result of 1 Update of Lagneaux F. (2007), Economic importance of the Belgian ports: Flemish maritime ports and Liège port complex - report 2005, NBB, Working Paper No. 115 (Document series). All figures have been updated. This paper is available on the following address http://www.nbb.be/doc/ts/publications/wp/wp115En.pdf. NBB WORKING PAPER No. 134 - JUNE 2008 seaborne traffic growth. Investment on the other hand, took a downward plunge after the exceptionally high amounts in 2005. This was mainly due to a number of shipping companies and - to a lesser extent - the completion of the Deurganckdok in Antwerp. The current changes in world trade patterns have a substantial impact on the activities in the Flemish ports. To cope with the accelerating internationalisation of port competition and the tremendous growth of containerised seaborne transport, the ports need to constantly adapt their infrastructures, through innovation and investment. As major logistic centres, they have to face the challenge of responding to increasing demand in terms of capacity, while adding as much value as possible to the goods passing through them. To face this challenge, they try to focus on particular branches or aspects for which they believe they hold all the winning cards. This has become absolutely vital in a climate of growing regional and international competition, accentuated by the booming Asian economies. All figures indicate that the situation is improving for the port of Liège. The growth of value added, investment and quantity of cargo handled exceeds last year's figures. Employment still decreases but to a lesser extent. Moreover, the future is looking even brighter as the TriLogiPort project should begin to make progress, the blast furnace 6 of Arcelor in Seraing has been reopened, a new bioethanol plant is being built in Wanze and several works developing the infrastructure are being carried out. The last few years, the quantity of cargo handled at the port of Brussels has stabilised. In terms of land available for port related activities, the port of Brussels has reached its limits. As a result, the extension of the infrastructure is one of the main priorities, all the more because the port authority has set ambitious goals for the near future. The present report provides a comprehensive account of these issues, giving details per economic sector, though the comments are confined to the main changes that occurred in 2006. Key words: branch survey, maritime cluster, subcontracting, indirect effects, transport intermodality, public investments. JEL classification: C67, H57, J21, L22, L91, L92, R15, R34 and R41. Corresponding author: NBB, Microeconomic Information Department, e-mail: [email protected] Research results and conclusions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bank of Belgium or any other institution to which the authors are affiliated. All remaining errors are ours. The author would like to thank her colleagues from the Microeconomic Information department for their assistance and support. Special thanks go to Mr Marc Van Kerckhoven for his unequalled experience and his personal commitment in searching for information and processing data, to Mr Frédéric Lagneaux for sharing all his experience from previous versions of this paper, and to Messrs Luc Dufresne, head of department at the NBB, and George van Gastel, head of service at the NBB, for their support and their comments on this paper. The advice given unstintingly by the Research and Statistics departments, i.e. Messrs Luc Dresse and Ghislain Poullet, was also greatly appreciated. NBB WORKING PAPER No. 134 - JUNE 2008 CONTENTS Foreword........................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 1 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE FLEMISH MARITIME PORTS................................................. 5 1.1 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 Competitive position of the Flemish maritime ports ............................................................................. 5 1.1.2 Direct and indirect value added in the Flemish maritime ports ............................................................ 7 1.1.3 Direct and indirect employment in the Flemish maritime ports ............................................................ 7 1.1.4 Investment in the Flemish maritime ports............................................................................................ 8 1.1.5 Breakdown of variables by company size............................................................................................ 9 1.1.6 Social balance sheet in the Flemish maritime ports............................................................................. 9 1.1.7 Financial situation in the Flemish maritime ports............................................................................... 13 1.2 PORT OF ANTWERP ....................................................................................................................... 16 1.2.1 Recent developments........................................................................................................................ 16 1.2.2 Value added ...................................................................................................................................... 16 1.2.3 Employment ...................................................................................................................................... 18 1.2.4 Investment......................................................................................................................................... 20 1.2.5 Financial ratios .................................................................................................................................