Shipping at Belgian ports has been severely disrupted for 10 days due to a major strike by maritime pilots, with hundreds of ships left stranded in the North Sea and inside the ports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent for days.
Since Sunday 5 October, a huge action by the three professional maritime pilots associations (AvK, BvL and OVL) and the three trade unions (ACOD, ACV and VSOA) has seen a united front to protest against the Federal Government’s pension reforms.
On Tuesday, around 150 ships were still blocked, unable to dock or leave. According to the Maritime Services and Coast Agency, 100 ships were waiting in the North Sea, while just over 50 were waiting to enter or leave the ports of Ghent, Antwerp and Zeebrugge.
"This has major consequences, also operationally," Lennart Verstappen from the Port of Antwerp-Bruges told VRT on Tuesday. "If ships can't be loaded and unloaded, it affects the entire logistics and transportation chain beyond."
Having begun last Monday 6 October, the first action saw 64 ships delayed, while the number has risen to reports of around 100-150 ships blocked every day since then.
Standing firm
Yet the maritime pilots have been expressing their dissatisfaction with federal pension reforms for several months, with a first mobilisation already taking place on 31 March, after the pension reforms were announced.
Due to this latest action, the logistics sector has been hit with economic damages estimated at several million euros, but pilots are standing firm.
Illustration picture shows a tug in the Port of Antwerp during a previous maritime pilots' strike. Credit: Belga
"We are ready to return to the negotiating table if we receive a clear signal from the authorities that the dialogue will be followed up in a constructive manner," explained Bart Allaert, secretary of the pilots' association BvL.
The association is calling for the full implementation of an agreement reached last summer. It is also demanding a written guarantee that the necessary budgets will be made available to implement this agreement.
Tuesday's strike
The mobilisation had already caused severe disruptions ahead of Tuesday's national strike, which added further delays as all ships were further blocked from leaving or entering the ports.
The Antwerp maritime traffic control centre, a branch of the Maritime Services Agency (MDK) Maritime Division headquarters, announced it would be understaffed from Monday evening until Wednesday morning due to its participation in Tuesday's national strike.
"In the port itself, there is still movement of ships going from one berth to another to load and unload. But entering or leaving the port is not possible until [Wednesday] morning, for both sea and inland shipping," said Verstappen.
Pilot boat alongside a ship, in the North Sea before the Belgian coast. Credit: Belga
The latest Belgium maritime pilots’ strike began over a week ago. It has seen hundreds of tankers, container ships and other vessels stranded a few dozen kilometres off the Belgian coast and inside ports, unable to leave.
Belgian pilots limited their working hours during the action in a bid to seriously disrupt port operations and increase waiting times. As the delays ripple through inland navigation (rivers, canals, etc), many shipping companies have been forced to review their schedules or reroute their vessels.
To add to the chaos, the nearby Port of Rotterdam was also facing its own staff strike, which made rerouting shipments there impossible.
Shipping shutdown
The role of maritime pilots is important. They are needed to guide the vessels to dock inside ports and reduce the chance of accidents, as ship captains may be less familiar with the port terrain.
Protesting against changes to their pension scheme, the pilots feel particularly singled out due to how the reform affects their sector.
Under the Federal Government's plans, younger pilots are set to lose up to 45% of their future pension, according to the trade union ACOD. BvL also criticises the plan to exclude special bonuses from pension calculations.
"There’s already a shortage of workers in our sector," said Francis Baetens, chair of the maritime pilots’ association, BvL.
"Many Flemish candidates are opting for the Dutch pilot service, which offers higher salaries, better pensions, and a mandatory retirement age of 60. Meanwhile, the Flemish Government is subsidising Dutch pilots serving ships in Flemish ports."
In response, Antwerp’s councillor for ports Johan Klaps, from the right-wing Flemish nationalists N-VA, has voiced concerns about the strike's impact on the industry and the reputation of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
He noted that delays are already affecting container terminals, and, along with his colleagues from the Flemish nationalist party, called for talks to swiftly restart.
Mayor of Bruges & Port of Zeebrugge Chairman Dirk De fauw, Port of Antwerp CEO Jacques Vandermeiren and Antwerp port councillor Johan Klaps are pictured on Monday 27 January 2025 in Antwerp. Credit: Belga / Jonas Roosens
"This year has been particularly difficult for the international reputation of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges," he said last Tuesday.
"Various actions have led to a partial or even total shutdown of the port. The current actions of the pilots also have a direct impact on the beating heart of our economy. Some sectors are already in difficulty, and these actions are hitting them particularly hard."
According to Klaps, the federal and Flemish governments have been in talks with the pilots for months in order to reach an agreement in principle before 30 November.
"With more than a month and a half to go before this deadline, putting a knife to the governments' throats is a very bad way to approach these discussions," he surmised.
Not honouring agreement
Meanwhile, the pilot's association (BvL) has accused Flemish ministers Jan Jambon and Annick De Ridder (both also from N-VA) of "not wanting to honour" a previous agreement reached with unions a few months ago.
"An agreement in principle was reached on 2 June with Ministers De Ridder and Jambon," the BvL said in a previous statement.
"After four months of intensive collaboration (...), the government unexpectedly refused, on 30 September, to finalise the necessary preparations. This negligence constitutes a direct violation of the agreement in principle previously reached."
An update given to the Belga News Agency on Wednesday morning has seen industrial action temporarily suspended "in order to break the current deadlock between the pilots' union and the Flemish Government", the pilots' union announced, saying they want to give the negotiations another chance.
"After ten days of action, the Flemish Government has been given ten days – until 24 October – to demonstrate, through a social mediator and by making concrete progress, that it is prepared to honour the agreement of 2 June in order to reach a final agreement by the end of November at the latest," the statement said.
