There is no need to panic, Port of Antwerp claims

The Port of Antwerp has said its operations have not been affected at all by the coronavirus outbreak and that there is “no reason to panic” – despite China being its second biggest trading partner.

In a statement, the port said it is following the advice of World Health Organisation (WHO), EU, FPS Public Health (Saniport) and FPS Mobility.

As it stands, all incoming ships must prevent a Maritime Declaration of Health (MDH), whereby the captain must indicate 24 hours before arrival any sick people on board as well as a list of the last 10 ports the vessel called at.

However, the port went onto say that sailings from China have dropped by approximately 20% and that it expects a 1% reduction in container transport in 2020.

Furthermore, it is estimated that a month of traffic from China will be lost as a result of the outbreak, this corresponds to approximately 115,000 TEU.

Trade with between the Port of Antwerp and China grew by 16% to 1.39 million TEU in 2019.
https://www.porttechnology.org/news/there-is-no-need-to-panic-port-of-antwerp-claims/