(Yicai) Oct. 20 -- The Port of Antwerp-Bruges plans to expand its team in China to forge closer ties with exporters, according to Chief Commercial Officer Tom Hautekiet, as Europe’s second-largest seaport seeks to adapt to fast-increasing freight shipments from China to Europe.

The port needs a larger local team to reach more Chinese export-oriented firms, and this is now a core work priority, Hautekiet said in an interview with Yicai today while attending the 2026 North Bund International Shipping Forum in Shanghai. “China is a key focus region for us,” he noted.

“Anyone seeking to deliver goods to European customers with reliable transit times will need to use our port,” said Hautekiet, noting that together, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and the Port of Rotterdam serve markets representing roughly 60 percent of Europe’s purchasing power.

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges used to focus mainly on outbound cargo flows, but the volume of goods imported from China to Europe is rising rapidly, he said, and amid this shifting landscape, the port needs to gain deeper insight into global cargo owners, especially those from China, to find out what their biggest pain points are when shipping goods to Europe, and how the port can offer support.

“That means we need to talk directly with these Chinese companies,” Hautekiet said. “We should engage not only carriers and freight forwarders, but also cargo owners, to understand the full supply chain rather than just one individual link within it.”

He projected that freight volumes from Asia to Europe will keep rising over the coming decades, requiring European ports to add extra container handling capacity to cope.

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges was formed by the merger of Belgium’s Port of Antwerp and Port of Zeebrugge in 2022. It is Europe’s largest port for exports and the continent’s leading roll on-roll off terminal for vehicle shipments.

Turning to China-Europe cooperation, Hautekiet said there are major opportunities in green energy and smart logistics. “We should treat Chinese, European and US enterprises equally and offer support to all on the same terms.”

He revealed that he had just met with executives from Envision, a major Chinese exporter whose new energy products such as battery packs are shipped in large volumes to Europe and Latin America. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is looking at integrating some of these technologies in its own infrastructure development, Hautekiet said.

He added that this was not their first exchange, as the two sides have cooperated on hydrogen energy projects and initiatives in Africa.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Tom Litting