A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Mathys, Claude Working Paper Economic importance of the Belgian ports: Flemish maritime ports, Liège port complex and the port of Brussels – Report 2012 NBB Working Paper, No. 260 Provided in Cooperation with: National Bank of Belgium, Brussels Suggested Citation: Mathys, Claude (2014) : Economic importance of the Belgian ports: Flemish maritime ports, Liège port complex and the port of Brussels – Report 2012, NBB Working Paper, No. 260, National Bank of Belgium, Brussels This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/144472 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE BELGIAN PORTS : Flemish maritime ports, Liège port complex and the port of Brussels – Report 2012 Working Paper Document by Claude Mathys June 2014 No 260 National Bank of Belgium Limited liability company RLP Brussels – Company’s number : 0203.201.340 Registered office : boulevard de Berlaimont 14 – BE -1000 Brussels www.nbb.be Editor Jan Smets Member of the Board of directors of the National Bank of Belgium © Illustrations : National Bank of Belgium Layout : NBB Microeconomic Analysis Cover : NBB AG – Prepress & Image Published in June 2014 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 centers 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 for the period 2007 - 2012, with an emphasis on 2012. Focusing on the three major variables of value added, employment and investment, the report also provides some information based on the social balance sheet and an overview of the financial situation in these ports as a whole. 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. As a result of the underlying calculation method the changes of indirect employment and indirect value added can differ from one another. The developments concerning economic activity in the six ports in 2011 - 2012 are summarised in this table: Changes from 2011 to 2012 Value added Employment Investment Tonnage (in percentages) (current prices) (Full-time Equivalents) (current prices) (metric tonnes) Flemish maritime ports Direct + 1.0 + 1.8 - 4.5 - 3.0 Indirect + 0.9 + 1.6 (seaborne) Total + 1.0 + 1.7 Liège port complex Direct - 16.1 - 2.1 + 19.1 -15.3 Indirect - 7.9 - 1.8 (inland) Total - 12.1 - 1.9 Port of Brussels Direct + 0.1 + 3.8 - 2.4 -5.1 Indirect + 0.8 + 1.0 (inland) Total + 0.4 + 2.3 Belgian ports Direct - 0.5 + 1.6 - 3.0 -3.9 Indirect + 0.4 + 1.2 Total - 0.1 + 1.4 1 Update of Mathys C. (July 2013), Economic importance of the Belgian ports: Flemish maritime ports, Liège port complex and the port of Brussels - Report 2011, NBB, Working Paper No. 242 (Document series). All figures have been updated. This paper is available at the following address http://www.nbb.be/doc/ts/publications/wp/WP242En.pdf. NBB WORKING PAPER No. 260 - JUNE 2014 Following the 2009 decline and the improvement in 2011, maritime traffic in the Flemish ports began falling again in 2012. That applies to all the Flemish ports. Value added was rising in the maritime cluster of the Flemish ports and falling in the non-maritime cluster where trade and industry were in decline. Direct value added has risen in the ports of Antwerp and Ostend whereas it has fallen in the ports of Zeebrugge and Ghent. Conversely, direct employment was expanding in both clusters in the Flemish ports viewed as a whole and in each port taken individually. The decline in investment in the Flemish ports continued in 2012. That trend is evident in all the Flemish ports except the port of Ostend where investment was maintained in 2012. The volume of cargo handled in the port of Liège decreased in 2012. Direct value added and employment contracted in both clusters. The steel giant ArcelorMittal had idled two blast furnaces at the site in Liege. Investment increased in both clusters in the Liège port complex. The volume of cargo handled at the port of Brussels declined in 2012. Value added and employment in the maritime cluster fell but rose in the non-maritime cluster. The drop in investment recorded since 2009 continued throughout 2012, albeit at a slowing pace. This report provides a comprehensive account of these issues, giving details for each economic sector, although the comments are confined to the main changes that occurred in 2012. This report is available for download at the following address http://www.nbb.be. 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] This paper was made with the technical support and the expertise of Mr Marc Van Kerckhoven. Research results and conclusions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bank of Belgium or any other institution to which the author is 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 Messrs Rudy Trogh, 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. NBB WORKING PAPER No. 260 - JUNE 2014 Contents 1 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE BELGIAN PORTS............................................................. 8 1.1 Traffic in the Belgian ports ........................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Competitive position of the Belgian ports ..................................................................................... 9 1.3 Direct and indirect value added in the Belgian ports................................................................... 12 1.4 Direct and indirect employment in the Belgian ports................................................................... 13 1.5 Investment in the Belgian ports ................................................................................................. 15 1.6 Demography of the Belgian ports .............................................................................................. 16 1.7 Breakdown of the variables by company size ............................................................................ 18 1.8 Social balance sheet in the Belgian ports .................................................................................. 18 1.9 Financial ratios in the Belgian ports ........................................................................................... 21 1.10 Financial health in the Belgian ports .......................................................................................... 23 2 PORT OF ANTWERP ............................................................................................................... 25 2.1 Port developments .................................................................................................................... 25 2.2 Value added .............................................................................................................................. 26 2.3 Employment .............................................................................................................................. 26 2.4 Investment ................................................................................................................................ 26 3 PORT OF GHENT....................................................................................................................