by Lloyd's List

30 April 2025 (Lloyd's List) - INDUSTRIAL action across Belgium brought its principal port of Antwerp to a near standstill this week, prompting new highs of vessel bottlenecks in northern Europe where delays have been a feature in recent weeks.

However, as Antwerp begins the process of clearing the backlogs, there are concerns the events in Belgium could be the calm before the storm, ahead of what one analyst described as potential “carnage” in the weeks ahead if Chinese cargo previously bound for the US is diverted to European shores.

Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand told Lloyd’s List the concern for importers and exporters was there could be much worse to come. 

“When we look further forward, you can see some of the Chinese manufactured goods not crossing the Pacific may end up in Europe.

“Fast forward to mid-June, if ports have not sorted this out by then it will be carnage. We’re seeing disruption right here, right now, but it could get worse six weeks from now.”

The coming weeks could therefore be critical as operators scramble to stabilise supply chains.

While disruption has plagued ports across northern Europe since early March, events in Belgium saw the largest vessel queues to date this year.

At its height on April 30, the port of Antwerp-Bruges reported more than 100 ships either awaiting clearance to berth or leave terminals.

On Thursday morning, 0900 hrs local time, Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel tracking also showed over 20 containerships at the north and south entrance of the Scheldt river in the North Sea at anchor.

Strikes in Antwerp began on Monday evening and continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, as part of pre-emptive industrial action throughout Belgium, the fourth strike in the past two months, with workers from the private and public sectors leaving their post in unison to protest against the government’s budgets cuts.

On Tuesday, the port of Antwerp, which was Europe’s busiest box port in the first quarter of 2025, ahead of Rotterdam, was effectively shut with “up and downstream… completely blocked for both sea and inland navigation”, according to the port authority.

In the port’s latest update, nearly all vessels awaiting clearance are scheduled to either depart or sail into Antwerp before the close of the week. The remaining 19 were still to receive fixed scheduling information.

“We are adjusting the vessel schedule based on the available chain capacity. Because of high demand, there is currently a shortage of sea and river pilots,” the port authority said.

“As a result, a handful of vessels still have no prospect of a time of embarkation or disembarkation. All chain partners are making the necessary efforts to restore normal shipping traffic as soon as possible.”

Making matters worse is that May 1 is also a public holiday in Belgium, a factor that is expected to slow the process of clearing backlogs given limited wharf staff. 

Shipping traffic through Zeebrugge — home to Europe’s largest ro-ro terminal, which was exempt from strike action — is operating as normal.

Port officials from Antwerp expect backlogs to be cleared by the weekend.

Perfect storm

This week’s delays in Antwerp come as ports across northern Europe continue to battle varying degrees of congestion. 

For one, ports have struggled to cope with the phasing in and out of new alliance schedules. The dissolution of 2M, which has seen Mediterranean Shipping Co operate as a standalone carrier and its former partner Maersk tie up with Hapag-Lloyd under the Gemini Cooperation after the latter severed ties with its former The Alliance partners (now the Premier Alliance).

This carrier game of musical chairs has led to an increase in port calls, while disrupting established flows and led to numerous cases of so-called “double-dipping”, extending berthing times as vessels carry out discharge and loading operations simultaneously. 

Compounding the issue further has been low water levels on continental hinterland arteries that has limited barge capacity, putting pressure on the already squeezed road and rail networks on the continent. This is on top of the strikes not just in Belgium but also in France, the scene of intermittent port strikes throughout the opening months of the year.

However, the perfect storm to stir congestion has been how all of this also come off the back an unprecedented surge in traffic at the start of 2025, particularly on the trunk Asia-Europe trade. Official figures from Container Trade Statistics showed box volumes on the route up more than 20% in January. Although container numbers fell back in February, trade was still up more than 7% through the first two months on last year, a period that is typically a slack season. Fundamentally, the ports were not ready for this cargo onslaught.

Sand said as the Chinese New Year fell a month earlier than last year this could explain at least some of the uptick in January because of the typical pre-holiday rush. However, the tail off in February was nowhere near as expected and is largely disconnected from the underlying economics in Europe, “which are not particularly bullish”, he said.

Instead, he suggested that the new year may have prompted a reset for some companies, who saw front-loading as their best option given the disruption of recent years. With further risks on the horizon, he said shippers may be hedging their bets on yet more disruption on liner trades in the months ahead, so it made good business sense to ensure cargoes arrive ahead of schedule.

“The risks keep piling up. Not only on the North American side, but still also on the Houthi side in the Middle East. I think some of those factors must come into consideration,” said Sand.

Carriers have warned customers of increasing congestion levels in northern Europe in recent weeks. In an advisory on April 17, Maersk informed its customers of operational disruption across Northern Europe, highlighting not only Antwerp but neighbouring Bremerhaven.

Earlier this week, HMM also advised of heavy port congestion across the continent, noting berth delays of up to three days in Antwerp, and up to three and a half days in both Rotterdam and Hamburg. Meanwhile, at London Gateway it noted berthing delays of more than two weeks. 

Despite the significant delays in Antwerp, the knock-on impact on other port majors in the region has been minimal with disruption largely localised, at least so far.

A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd said two of its vessels had been affected by the port closure and subsequent delays and had since left the port, while services are largely unaffected arriving and leaving on time. They noted too that its schedules also have inbuilt buffers in case of delays such of these, which can be quickly recovered.

A spokesperson for the Port of Rotterdam Authority told Lloyd’s List that the Dutch port had still to witness any material impact from the strikes of its Belgian neighbour.

Further north, the number of ships positioned at the Helgoland Bay anchorage awaiting entry into the German ports of Bremerhaven, Hamburg or Wilhelmshaven has increased from six vessels to 10 since the start of the week.

Elsewhere delays are also still apparent at other port majors. Four ships are anchored off the UK’s east coast awaiting clearance into London Gateway and three off Southampton, while two ships are waiting outside Le Havre sitting at the Le Havre anchorage, Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel-tracking data shows.