A nationwide strike in Belgium between 24 and 26 November brought seagoing traffic at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges to a standstill, disrupting one of Europe’s most important maritime gateways. Pilotage and vessel-traffic services were suspended, blocking access through the Wandelaar channel and leaving dozens of inbound and outbound ships unable to move. Inland waterways experienced similar interruptions as lock and pilot operations halted, slowing barge flows across the Scheldt and the broader inlandwaterway network.
The stoppage highlighted the strategic weight of Antwerp-Bruges (13.5 million TEU annually) within North Sea shipping loops and Europe’s hinterland corridors. As vessel movements paused, a growing queue of container ships, bulk carriers and tankers formed off the Belgian coast. Major shipping lines warned customers of mounting congestion and extended turnaround times, noting that even a short outage at a hub of this scale compresses discharge windows, strains rail and barge schedules, and reverberates across the Benelux and Rhine-Alpine logistics system. Clearing the backlog will require coordinated slot management through the first week of December, with residual timing distortions likely to persist across regional rotations.
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