Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/23/2013 -- Following a year in which BMI believes saw mixed freight volume dynamics in different freight modes, 2013 will signal slow growth, although most of the modes will continue struggling to return to predownturn levels.

Total trade is projected to pick up with our Country Risk desk forecasting a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 1.40% in 2013 following an estimated growth of 0.05% in 2012.

Road freight is to continue to dominate the sector and is projected to grow by 0.5% in 2013. The mode did not manage to defy the downturn and so far appears to be struggling to recover to its pre-2008 volumes. BMI notes that inland waterway freight fully recovered its 2006 levels thanks to two years of strong growth. The return to growth in tonnage is projected at the country's major seaports, rail and road freight.

Headline Industry Data

- 2013 Air freight tonnage is expected to grow by 1.8%
- 2013 Rail freight is forecast to grow by 2.7%
- 2013 Port of Antwerp throughput is forecast to grow by 2.0%
- 2013 Port of Antwerp container throughput is forecast to decrease by 1.5%
- 2013 Road freight is forecast to grow by 0.5%
- 2013 Inland waterway freight is forecast to grow by 0.6%
- 2013 Total real trade growth is forecast at 1.4%.

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Key Industry Trends

ZIP Terminal Receives First Mainline Service - The Zeebrugge International Port (ZIP) terminal has managed to obtain its first mainline service. The development took place after the ZIP terminal stayed mostly idle for the past two years. Evergreen Line and Hanjin Shipping have added a Zeebrugge call on their Far East-North Europe CEM/ANN service from July.

Zeebrugge's LNG Expansion Underway - The port of Zeebrugge announced that the understructure for the second LNG jetty in the outer port of Zeebrugge has been completed. It was built by the Belgium-based contractor MBG. The completion allows the beginning of the next development stage, the building works on the jetty's superstructure. Although the full completion of the second jetty is expected to take another 36 months, the facility for loading and unloading LNG carriers will commence operations in 2015.

Brussels Airport's Suffers Decrease in Cargo - Cargo throughput of Brussels Airport fell by 12.8%, y-o-y, in the first six months of 2013, with the airport handling 210,676 tonnes of cargo, compared with 241,567 tonnes a year ago.

Inland Terminals Purchases Euroports Containers Meerhout - Euroports has agreed to divest Euroports Containers Meerhout (ECM), which operates the inland container terminal in Meerhout, to Inland Terminals for an undisclosed amount.

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