Subsidized projects
With Port of Antwerp-Bruges, we are taking part in a number of projects funded by the government and by the European Union. Thanks to the support of research and innovation programmes such as Horizon 2020, Interreg and CEF, we are promoting cooperation between different partners and stakeholders within the logistics chain in order to solve a common global problem. Examples of these include the challenges relating to our climate or the need to ensure more efficient logistical processes by means of digitalisation. Port of Antwerp-Bruges is also leading some of these projects, such as PIONEERS or ePIcenter.
Antwerp@C
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.
AUTOSUP
The AUTOSUP project aims to drive the industrial transition to seamless multimodal automatic freight transport and enhance the operation of hubs as nodes in a Physical Internet logistics network. The consortium consists of 17 partners and has received a fund of €4 million for the project that will run for 3 years.
To make our port future-proof, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges will participate in both a strategic study as well as work out 2 showcases where an automated flow will be simulated and evaluated. We will be working together with, a.o. Procter & Gamble and VIL (the Flemish Innovation platform for the logistics sector).
BURDI
BURDI stands for Belgium - Netherlands U-Space Reference Design Implementation and investigates the practical implementation of the recent EU drone legislation. The consortiumconsists of 18 partners and is coordinated by Skeyes.
The port of Antwerp wil be used as one of the sites for drone operators to test specific cases in practice. The project has received a grant from the European Commission of € 4.7 million and will run until June 2025.
Clarion
Together with the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg, Port of Antwerp-Bruges is participating in the CLARION Project, funded by the Horizon Europe programme and coordinated by TU Delft, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, the Geotechnical Engineering Section and a multidisciplinary team of 21 partners from 10 European countries. Aim of the project is to enhance the resilience and sustainability of European ports in the face of climate-related challenges. With an EU contribution of around 7 million euros, the project has a duration of 48 months, concluding in April 2028.
In this project, the Port of Antwer-Bruges, will collaborate closely with, a.o. the Antwerp Maritime Academy and Brabo to test and deploy advanced technologies and strategies aimed at enhancing port resilience and sustainability, pushing the boundaries of current practices to future-proof port infrastructure.
Extra Containercapaciteit Antwerpen (ECA)
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.
ePIcenter
The ePIcenter project brings together 36 European and international partners (port authorities, providers of logistics services, manufacturers, academic and technological partners, etc.) who are working together to develop and test AI-driven logistical software solutions, new transport technologies and supporting methods to improve supply chain efficiency worldwide and to limit the negative effects on the environment.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges is coordinating the project and is working closely with the other project partners to enable transparent, efficient and green supply chains by optimising and digitising logistical processes.
We implement real-life use cases to improve the accessibility of our port within the global and European transport networks and to reduce the impact on the environment and on our surroundings.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under funding agreement no. 861584.
Fastwater
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.
FRONT
For the renovation of the Lillo Bridge, Port of Antwerp-Bruges and Infrabel will receive EUR 23 million from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The Lillo Bridge was built in 1967 and is the only bridge over the Canal Dock. It connects the area between the Scheldt and the Canal Dock with the hinterland and is very important for the chemical cluster and the container terminals in that area. The increase in both rail and shipping traffic required the bridge to open and close more and more frequently. This resulted in material fatigue of the steel and balance structures. By the end of 2019, this had progressed to the point where the bridge was decommissioned.
After the renovation, trains will no longer have to make a long detour. This will not only result in a shorter distance, but will also reduce the waiting times at the lock complex drastically. Bringing the bridge back in operation will also give a new boost to the rail traffic in that area and will facilitate the modal shift from road to rail traffic.
Masterplan cycling infrastructure (Copenhagen Plan)
Port of Antwerp-Bruges has been working for a number of years to find solutions to improve the mobility in and around the port. Bicycles play a big role in home work traffic. With the large infrastructure works in and around Antwerp, the bike can be an important alternative for people working in the port area. However, to increase the number of people who use their bike to get to and from work, each port company needs to be accessible safely and comfortably.
3 years ago, the decision was made to invest €40 million in resources and people to make each port company accessible by bike by an independent cycle lane in asphalt in 10 year’s time. This decision was made after a thorough analysis of the existing bicycle infrastructure. A master plan bicycle infrastructure was put together to put this plan in operation. Some of the cycle lanes of the master plan receive funding through the Copenhagen fund of Europe and Flanders.
NOVIMOVE
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.
NextGen Demo
NextGen Demo, the innovation hub that is part of the circular hotspot NextGen District in the heart of the port of Antwerp, has received €750.000 funding from EFRO and €1.250.000 from the Flemish Fund for Innovation and Entrepeneuring. This funding of €2 million will be used for investments during the start-up phase, such as preparing the demo terrains and creating coworking facilities. NextGen demo should be operational at the beginning of 2025.
OPS cruises Zeebrugge
Port of Antwerp-Bruges has received a European grant of 3.2 million euros for a shore power installation for cruise ships in Zeebrugge. From 2026, cruise ships will be able to purchase green electricity when docked. It will be four years before this becomes mandatory across Europe. The plans to build a shore power facility here fit within the project call from the EU's Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) programme as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
Cruise ships consume a lot of energy while at the dock. Thanks to the shore power installation, cruise ships docking in Zeebrugge will be able to switch to green electricity from the high-voltage grid. This eliminates the need for them to generate their own electricity with diesel generators. That means no more emissions and also eliminates the noise from the running generators. In this way the impact on the environment, climate and surroundings reduces substantially.
PIONEERS
PIONEERS is an international consortium of 46 partners, led by Port of Antwerp-Bruges. This PIONEERS consortium brings together ports, terminal operators, carriers, freight forwarders, knowledge institutions, technology developers, innovators and government agencies. Together, we devise concrete solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at ports while safeguarding our competitive position. The project started in October 2021 and will run for five years.
SCALE-UP
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).
SEAMLESS
Seamless, a consortium of 26 partners, has received almost 15 million EUR in funding from the European Commission. The aim of the project is to adapt existing processes and procedures to accommodate autonomous vessels. Port of Antwerp-Bruges will research and analyse the current framework and use those results to create a first virtual environment where we can safely guide inland barges during their stay in our port.
The project will run for 4 years and will finish in December 2026.
5G-Blueprint
5G-Blueprint designs and validates a technical architecture, business and governance model for uninterrupted crossborder Tele Operated transport based on 5G connectivity. This blueprint can be used in the future for a pan European roll out in the logistics sector and beyond.
This project focuses on concrete use cases studying connected and tele operated transport. Tests will be carried out with different types of vehicles (barges, trains & trucks) across cross-border corridors (‘5G corridors’), in this case in the border region between Flanders & the Netherlands.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges facilitates the use cases by putting our infrastructure at the disposal of the consortium. This project fits in our overall strategy to actively invest in research focusing on autonomous vessels and drones, but also in projects focusing on the optimalization of truck transport, automatization of transport in general and ANPR cameras.
