Zeebrugge harbor

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Zeebrugge harbor
Data
UN / LOCODE BE ZEE
Port type seaport
Throughput 45.8 million t (2019)
Container (TEU) 1.7 million (2019)
website www.portofzeebrugge.be
Geographic information
place Zeebrugge
province West Flanders Province
Country Belgium
Aerial view of Bruges and the port area of ​​Zeebrugge
Aerial view of Bruges and the port area of ​​Zeebrugge
Coordinates 51 ° 17 '35 "  N , 3 ° 12' 35"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 17 '35 "  N , 3 ° 12' 35"  E
Zeebrugge port (West Flanders Province)
Zeebrugge harbor
Location Zeebrugge port
Representation of the port facilities of Bruges (below) and Zeebrugge (above)

The port of Zeebrugge is the most modern and second largest port in Belgium (after Antwerp). The port is also considered to be one of the most modern in Europe . The port has good motorway, rail and river connections with European countries. The main advantages of the seaport are its geographical location directly on the North Sea (without the need for an expensive journey through the Dover Strait ) , its proximity to England and its access and relatively great water depths.

activities

Zeebrugge is one of the ports between the Port of Hamburg and that of Le Havre , which has experienced rapid development thanks to its location not far from the Western European economic centers.

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The automotive industry in particular uses the port for the handling of new vehicles with RoRo ships ( car transporters ), and Toyota cars in particular are handled via Zeebrugge. In 2008, a total of 2,126,143 vehicles were treated in Zeebrugge, in 2015 the figure was around 2.4 million. In 2016 there was a further increase of 14.3% to 2.77 million vehicles of all types. In 2019, 2,960,339 vehicles were handled. Zeebrugge is thus Europe's most important transhipment port for motor vehicles.

In Zeebrugge, among other things, there is also container handling (2019: 16.2 million t, 1.7 million  TEU ), and so far it is the most important port for the import of LNG in Europe. The port is also the starting point for a daily P&O  Ferries ferry service to Hull ( Great Britain ).

The operator of the port is MBZ (Maatschappij van de Brugse Zeehaven NV) .

history

In 1134 a storm surge tore a fairway into the Zwin bay , so that the city of Bruges, which is about 15 kilometers inland, then had direct access to the North Sea . Thanks to this access to the lake, Bruges was an important trading center in the Middle Ages .

However, from the 15th century onwards, the Zwin approach silted up and could not be restored even with hydraulic engineering measures. With direct access to the sea, Bruges also lost its importance. Around 1600 Bruges was only a provincial city. The economic decline continued into the 19th century.

Around 1870 Bruges was again completely enclosed by land masses. The emerging industry in the city increasingly demanded a restoration of the formerly existing direct connection to the North Sea in order to be able to handle trade with England more effectively. The expansion of the new Zeebrugge overseas port therefore began in 1892, after initial plans had been drawn up as early as 1866. The first port complex was inaugurated in 1907 by the Belgian King Leopold II .

During the First World War , Zeebrugge was occupied by the German Reich and used as a base for submarine and torpedo boat flotillas. That is why the British planned an advance towards Zeebrugge in 1917 , but this failed. On April 23, 1918, the Royal Navy launched an unsuccessful attack on the naval base.

After the end of the First World War, the rail ferry service to the English port of Harwich was added in 1924 . But it was not until the last third of the 20th century that the port of Zeebrugge came into full bloom. In 1968 the first full container ship and the first large tanker docked here. The Ocean container terminal went into operation three years later. In 1984 a second sea lock (Vandamme sea lock) was put into operation.

Zeebrugge gained public attention when the RoRo ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized on March 6, 1987, in which 193 people died.

gallery

  • Satellite image of Bruges and the port

  • Container ship "CMA CGM Balzac" at the PSA HNN terminal

  • Container ship "CMA CGM Bizet" at the PSA HNN terminal

  • Container ship "Elly Mærsk"

  • Container ship "Mærsk Sheerness"

  • Container Ship

  • Cruise ship in the port of Zeebrugge

  • Inland port of Bruges: Emile Cousindock

  • Zeebrugge harbor entrance

  • Zeebrugge harbor basin

  • Zeebrugge Cruise Terminal

literature

  • Peter Biebig: Zeebrugge. Bruges return to the sea . In: Rolf Schönknecht (ed.): Trans-Magazin Schiffahrt , transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1989, pp. 44–51

Web links

Commons : Port of Bruges-Zeebrugge  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eckhard-Herbert Arndt: Zeebrugge gets new port manager . In: Daily port report from 6 July 2020, p. 13
  2. ↑ Port of Zeebrugge 2019: 14.2% Growth portofzeebrugge.be , January 17, 2020, accessed on July 16, 2020 (English)
  3. ↑ Eckhard-Herbert Arndt: Zeebrugge is on a record course · By the middle of the year, over a million cars had already been handled . In: Daily port report from July 1, 2015, p. 15
  4. ↑ Eckhard-Herbert Arndt: Zeebrugge with record in the auto segment · 2.7 million vehicles handled in 2016 . In: Daily port report from January 19, 2017, p. 1
  5. ↑ Port of Zeebrugge 2019: 14.2% Growth portofzeebrugge.be , January 17, 2020, accessed on July 16, 2020 (English)