As the second largest port in Europe, Antwerp is a major port for international trade. It is the first industrial and maritime petrochemical cluster in Europe, and is the European market leader in paper, forest products, fresh fruit, steel products, sugar, hazardous chemicals, and coffee.
Mr. Liu said that the purpose for the Port of Antwerp attending the SITL Asia 2007 exhibition in Shanghai was to promote itself in order to attract more cargo to Antwerp. The trade volume between China and Europe has grown rapidly over the past few years, and the amount of cargo transported through the Port of Antwerp reached 7 million TEUs in 2006. Mr. Liu hopes that by promoting the Port of Antwerp in China, he can secure more business and trade opportunities form Chinese companies.
In order to promote the position of Antwerp as the second largest port in Europe, Mr. Liu was looking to raise the reputation of his port in China. At the exhibition he had the opportunity to talk face to face with target customer groups, cargo owners and several large companies. As Antwerp is a base port, it can provide effective services for the market in Mainland China, and Mr. Liu hopes that more companies who export to Europe can choose Antwerp as their base.
Mr. Liu is also building a Chinese website for the Port of Antwerp and plans to publish promotional material aimed at Chinese companies every 3 months. In 2008, Antwerp will also open an office in Shanghai.
As Belgium is a small country, which relies heavily on the profits gained by using the commercial ports, the customs in Antwerp are really flexible. Antwerp is the best European port for handling ability, has many reputable logistics companies using its facilities and has 5.3 million square meters of enclosed warehouses space.
Antwerp has developed a multimodal transportation system extending into Northern and Western Europe, and utilizes inland-river transportation. Antwerp connects onto the river Rhine, which has the capacity to accommodate over 2000 ships. In addition, logistics companies already in cooperation with the Port of Antwerp help with their promotion, and many of them have established good relationships with Chinese companies or have offices and networks based in China.
When cooperating with customs, Antwerp has built a green line, which allows cargo to pass through customs more efficiently, and provides a more effective service for their customers.
There are many countries with different languages in the European Union, so communication can be a problem. However, at the port of Antwerp, most of the staff can speak 4 or 5 different languages such as Dutch, English, French, Chinese, etc. This helps to alleviate this problem and makes Antwerp a truly multilingual port.
As to the changing policies of Belgium caused by the conflicts between the north and south, Mr. Liu says that it will not affect business at the Port of Antwerp very much. The conflicts between the north and south are actually based on the different ideas held by several parties, and they will negotiate the matter by conferences instead of by arms. Besides, the capital of Belgium is located in the centre of the country, so it would be difficult for Belgium to be separated into two different countries. Also as a member of the European Union, any war would be controlled.
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