Belgium's key port of Antwerp has posted its fifth consecutive year of record cargo volumes.
It handled 223.6m tonnes of freight in 2017, an increase of 4.4% from 2016.
Container volumes rose 4.3% to 123m tonnes, while liquid bulk cargoes such as oil derivatives increased 5.7% to 73.1m.
Conventional breakbulk such as steel was up 4.8% at 10.3m tonnes, while ro-ro growth was 10.5% at 5.1m tonnes.
"Only dry bulk such as coal and ores lagged behind in the tables, finishing the year with a drop of 3.7% (12.2m tonnes)," the port said.
CEO Jacques Vandermeiren added: “Finishing the year with such strong growth figures gives us confidence for the future.
"The port companies too remain firmly convinced of the advantages of Antwerp and the strengths that it has to offer; witness the many investments that we were able to welcome in 2017.
"In 2018 we seek to build further on the momentum of the previous year. This means that we will take the entire world as the scale for our decisions, with maximum facilitation for our customers as the basis.”
A total of 14,223 seagoing ships called at Antwerp in 2017, a decrease of 1.7% year-on-year.
But the overall gross tonnage of the vessels rose by 1.4% to 406.76m gt.
