Subsidized projects

Antwerp@C is a project dedicated to innovative CO₂ reduction. Together with seven leading chemical and energy companies, we are working on the transition to a circular and climate neutral port. The consortium consists of Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Fluxys, Port of Antwerp-Bruges and Total.

Two subsidies for detailed studies – concerning an amount of circa € 9 million have been granted under the European funding program for Trans-European Energy Networks, CEF. The funding will be used to carry out studies for a liquid CO₂ Export Terminal, a CO2 backbone within the Antwerp area and a CO₂ cross border pipeline to connect to the Netherlands.

With this financial support, Antwerp@C reaches a new milestone and can engage one step further. The consortium is strengthened in its ambition to reduce the CO₂ emissions within the port (18.65 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017) potentially by half between now and 2030.

The European funding programme CEF has awarded funding of €10.91 million to the complex project Extra Containercapaciteit Antwerpen (ECA). This European support will be used to carry out detailed studies to identify the most sustainable solution, in order to create a supported project that reconciles the needs of the economy, the environment and our climate.

The co-financing will be used to finance the planned studies that form part of the elaboration phase of the project. Those studies are essential in order to ensure that the project is implemented in a way that most effectively serves the needs of the economy, while also enhancing quality of life.

Besides expansion, the project will also focus on optimising the use of land within the existing port area. The technical study into the design of the second tidal dock envisages a solution that will ensure maximum efficiency, while minimising the impact on the environment. ​

Fastwater aims to reduce its pollutant emissions to zero impact, through the use of methanol fuel. The consortium includes shipyards, a ship owner, engine manufacturers, an equipment supplier, a classification society, a methanol producer, a major port and research institutes.

Universal, scalable retrofit kits, medium speed and high speed methanol engines will be developed, demonstrated and commercialized. The demos include a harbour tug, a pilot boat and a coast guard vessel. The demos will show the complete chain from renewable methanol production to ship bunkering, work with regulatory agencies to simplify rules and regulations for methanol as a fuel, and develop and use a training programme for crew.

Port of Antwerp-Bruges will be involved in the demonstrator where a tug boat will be retrofitted to run completely on methanol, focusing on its energy and fuel consumption and its air emissions.

Inland waterborne transport is a major key-holder for unlocking the congestion in seaports, terminals, road networks and access to urban areas, besides being a main factor in reducing CO2 emissions in transport. These advantages are not fully exploited due to inefficiencies in the seaport-inland logistics chain. Thus the core NOVIMOVE challenge is: where, how and with whom to intervene in the logistics system to obtain the largest possible impact at the lowest possible cost?

We invest the following innovative concepts with regards to inland waterborne transport:

• Improved load factor of containers by means of cargo reconstruction.
• Improved port logistics by reducing waiting times at terminals and sailing time between terminals.
• Improved river navigation by satellite, sensor and data fusion.
• Innovative vessel solutions to cope with variable water levels.
• Reduced waiting time at bridges and locks by dynamic scheduling system.

The SCALE-UP project develops strategies to accelerate the evolution towards smart, clean and inclusive mobility to a level required to meet the EU goals towards climate & mobility. Three city hubs cooperate to achieve this goal: Antwerp, Madrid (Spain) & Turku (Finland)..

The consortium is led by the city of Antwerp and consist of 23 partners, of which BAM, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the Province of Antwerp & the Flemish government, BE-mobile, and partners from Spain and Finland are a few.

Port of Antwerp-Bruges is mainly involved in the creation of a data platform that consolidates the transport flows & network capacity based on smart data. A tool that will monitor infrastructure capacity with accurate data collection will also be developed in order to get a better insight in the capacity usage of the transport network (a ‘barometer’), as well as effective capacity planning tools (guiding tools for port personnel).

Port of Antwerp-Bruges invests € 7 million (VAT not incl.) in parking lot Ketenis and another € 0,5 million in an upgrade of truck parking Goordijk on the right bank. The project has received funding from the European fund ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF). .

Parking Ketenis will have 280 parking places and will offer truckers an extensive range of amenities: adequate and clean bathrooms, WiFi, vending machines with food and drinks, underground waste containers, etc. The parking lot will be well lit and fenced in so it will be closed off from the public road. An awning with solar panels will generate electricity and on and around the parking a lot of green space is foreseen.

The parking lot will also serve as an overflow when waiting times at one or more terminals were to become too long.

The European Commission has also granted funds for the building and refurbishment of secure truck parking lots in European countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Austria & Croatia.