The Ghent port occupies an area with a total surface of some 3,291 ha, divided into 511 ha of water surface (canal and docks) and 2,780 ha of land.

The various transhipment companies and industries are established along the Seacanal and the different port docks: the Rodenhuizedok, the Mercatordok, the Sifferdok and the Grootdok with its lateral docks (Zuid-, Midden- and Noorddok). All of these docks can accommodate the largest vessels admitted in the port (80,000 DWT).

Industry, distribution & logistics

Ghent is a modern and versatile medium-sized port situated at the mid-point of the Hamburg/Le Havre range. Its annual cargo traffic in 2006 totals some 42,8 million tons (25,1 million seagoing navigation, 17,7 million inland waterway navigation).

Car and truck assembly and the distribution of cars hold out strongly in Ghent. Volvo Trucks, Volvo Cars and Honda are present on-site along with logistics providers and suppliers. Linked to the assembly plants are several companies manufacturing or supplying car components and spare parts.

A major steel mill takes full advantage of the port's facilities to tranship raw materials from deep-sea bulkers directly into the mill and for exporting steel products directly from mill to vessel and inland barge. Stevedores offer dedicated temperature and humidity-controlled steel warehouses. Also scrap is home in Ghent with the terminal of a leading European recycling and scrapping company.

Production and recycling as well as imports and physical distribution of paper and pulp have been a common activity in Ghent seaport for a long time already. Also wood, be it from North Europe, the Americas, Asia or Africa as long as it is environmental friendly and sustainably harvested, will find its way through the Ghent port-based importers. New and strongly growing products are peat, wood chips and pellets.

Bulk cargo

Ghent is Europe's leader port in cereals and derivatives with an overall storage capacity of over one million tons. Other bulk commodities like coal, ores, petroleum products, minerals, fertilizers and animal feed make up another large part of the port's traffic figures.

Ghent handles some 3.5m tons of sea-borne dry agribulk each year and offers storage capacity of one million tonnes. Agribulk, fertilizers, minerals, solid mineral fuels and iron ore together represent 73.6% of sea-borne cargo volume.

More than 2.8 million tons of liquid bulk is handled by the port, with petroleum products, chemicals, liquid fertilizers, vegetable oils and fruit juice representing 11.3% of overall sea-borne traffic. Ghent has three large, specialized tank terminals for liquid bulk as well as two fruit-juice terminals.

General cargo

General cargo accounts for 15.1% of total volume with conventional and break-bulk cargo making up the majority. The main categories handled are paper and steel, although wood is also significant. Ghent offers a humidity and temperature-controlled warehouse for steel products and several specialized terminals for other kinds of general cargo.

Container and ro/ro port

Congestion-free container terminals guarantee fast handling of both Short Sea Shipping and of regular inland navigation feeder services with Rotterdam, Antwerp and Zeebrugge. Besides the daily Scandinavia ro/ro service with Gothenburg, Ghent also has regular ro/ro and lo/lo liner services with Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Norway, Russia and the Far East

 Nautical access

The port of Ghent is linked to the North Sea via the Western Scheldt, the artificially dug Seacanal Ghent-Terneuzen and the lock complex of Terneuzen. The port can accommodate vessels up to 80,000 tons deadweight.

Location & hinterland connections

An excellent geographical location and infrastructure has enabled the Port of Ghent to develop into a major distribution platform for various commodities. It is located at the meeting point of three major European motorways - the E17 linking Scandinavia with Portugal; the E34 from the French channel ports to the Ruhr area of Germany; and the E40 between the United Kingdom and Turkey. Each of the port's quays is linked into the European rail network by way of the Ghent-Seaport marshalling yard, while canals and rivers lead into the major European inland waterways.

State-of-the-art distribution centers

The port is well equipped for specialized distribution and logistics centers. These not only offer storage and logistics, but added-value centers where goods can be processed, reprocessed and assembled. The John Kennedy Industrial Park on the right bank of the Ghent-Terneuzen canal hosts a considerable number of international distribution, transport and ancillary companies.

New developments

Recently the port of Ghent opened up 400 hectares of greenfield land at the 'Kluizendok' for industrial and physical distribution projects. Advantages are shorter sailing times, 4 km of quay length, integrated container terminal, large lots available, direct connection to R4 ring road, fully intermodal.

Furthermore, the port of Gent develops the 80-hectare dry port of 'Rieme North', in the vicinity of the Kluizendok. This dry port will be available by 2010, specifically for warehousing and physical distribution activities.

Ghent Bio-Energy Valley is a joint initiative of Ghent University, the city of Ghent, the Port of Ghent, the Development Agency East-Flanders and a number of industrial companies related to the Ghent region that are active in the fields of bio-energy generation, distribution, storage and use. Ghent Bio-Energy Valley promotes the development of the bio-based economy through collaborative programs, joint initiatives and synergy creation between the partners in the fields of Research & Development, structural measures and policy, logistics and communication towards the general public.

Source: Port of Ghent, http://www.portofghent.be