How much damage have strikes and an oil leak done to the port of Antwerp-Bruges?
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges reported lower cargo throughput for the first half of 2026, and the port authority points to two culprits: repeated national strike days that shut down locks, pilotage and terminals, and an oil leak that disrupted shipping traffic, according to figures reported by VRT NWS. For a port that moved roughly 278 million tonnes of freight in 2024 and underpins around 164,000 Belgian jobs, a weak semester is more than a statistical blip — it reopens the running argument between port employers and the ACV-CSC and ABVV/FGTB unions over the cost of Belgium's social conflict, at a moment when European industrial demand is already fragile.
The port is close to being the front door of the Belgian economy. Lower throughput feeds through to shift work and overtime for dockers and logistics staff in Antwerp and around Zeebrugge, to order books at Flemish hauliers and barge operators, and — via congestion delays and surcharges — into the price of imported goods in Belgian shops. It also sharpens a live political question: whether Belgium's strike culture is eroding the competitiveness of its most strategic infrastructure while Rotterdam stands ready to absorb diverted cargo.
The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is the merged seaport entity created in 2022 from the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge. It is Europe's second-largest seaport after Rotterdam, handled roughly 278 million tonnes of cargo in 2024, hosts Europe's largest chemicals cluster, and — according to National Bank of Belgium studies — supports on the order of 164,000 direct and indirect jobs. Its half-year 2026 figures, reported by VRT NWS, show a decline in goods throughput that the port authority attributes chiefly to repeated national strike days called by the ACV-CSC and ABVV/FGTB unions against federal reforms, and to an oil leak that disrupted shipping traffic in the dock complex.
Background
Antwerp and Zeebrugge merged their port authorities in April 2022 to compete better with Rotterdam. Throughput fell markedly in 2023 amid weak European industrial demand before recovering modestly in 2024. Strike waves accompanying federal reform rounds have repeatedly disrupted the port over the past decade; the current cycle began after the De Wever government took office in February 2025 with a pension and labour-market reform agenda that triggered recurring national days of action by the ACV-CSC and ABVV/FGTB.
What to do
Businesses importing or exporting through Antwerp should budget for possible strike-related delays and congestion surcharges in the second half of 2026 and consider contingency routings. For workers in Flemish logistics, the figures signal pressure on shift volumes; for households, prolonged disruption can feed marginally into the price of imported goods.
Impact
Regional — Flanders carries the direct exposure: port labour and logistics employment in the Antwerp region and around Zeebrugge, plus the Flemish chemicals and industrial cluster that depends on reliable maritime access. Alfaport-Voka, the Flemish port employers' federation, has framed the strike-related losses as a Flemish competitiveness problem.
Opposing perspectives
- Port employers and Alfaport-Voka
Employer federations, led by Alfaport-Voka within the Flemish business network Voka, argue that repeated strike days are pricing Belgium out of the North Sea logistics market: each shutdown carries multimillion-euro costs, congestion lingers for days afterwards, and shipping lines quietly shift calls to Rotterdam. They have long pushed for guaranteed minimum service at critical infrastructure such as locks and pilotage.
- ACV-CSC and ABVV/FGTB unions
The Christian ACV-CSC and socialist ABVV/FGTB federations counter that the right to strike is constitutionally protected and that their dispute is with the federal government's pension and labour-market reforms, not with the port. They argue that weak European industrial demand, high energy costs and tariff turbulence — not union action — are the structural drivers of soft volumes, and that blaming workers deflects attention from those pressures.
- Federal government (De Wever coalition)
The federal government defends its pension and labour-market reforms as necessary to repair public finances and keep the Belgian economy competitive, and points to the economic damage of recurring national strike days as an argument for social partners to negotiate rather than escalate — a framing the unions reject as pressure on the right to collective action.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceVRT NWS — Stakingen en olielek spelen haven van Antwerpen-Brugge parten: goederenoverslag daalt tijdens eerste jaarhelftPrimary· vrtnws.be· 16 July 2026Retrieved 16 July 2026· 1 day ago· Dated
- View sourcePort of Antwerp-Bruges newsroom (half-year and annual throughput figures)· newsroom.portofantwerpbruges.comRetrieved 16 July 2026
- View sourceNational Bank of Belgium — studies on the economic importance of Belgian ports· nbb.beRetrieved 16 July 2026
- View sourceGazet van Antwerpen — port and strike coverage· gva.beRetrieved 16 July 2026
