Exactly 120 ships were waiting for a pilot on the North Sea or in the port of Antwerp on Friday morning, according to the Maritime and Coastal Services Agency (MDK). On Wednesday, there were still more than 200.
According to the Professional Association of Pilots (BvL), "everyone is working hard to reduce the backlog" caused by the chaotic 10-day strike at the ports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent.
However, this last point is not entirely true. Even though the pilots' work-to-rule actions have been temporarily suspended, pilotage is still taking place with some delay: a few captains (none associated with the BvL) are still taking their statutory maximum rest period, according to the unions.
In other words, some maritime and coastal pilots did not fully agree with the decision to suspend the actions.
No magic wand
"If these captains would not take their full rest period, the backlog would not necessarily be reduced any faster," the BvL stated on Friday morning. "We are operating at full capacity, but we do not have a magic wand."
The backlog is expected to be resolved by Sunday or Monday.
During the work-to-rule actions, the Antwerp Gateway (DP World's terminal) was unable to handle nearly 40,000 containers on time.
About ten ships completely bypassed the DP World terminal in Antwerp due to the pilots' actions, the company confirmed on Friday. Additionally, a total of nine ships bypassed the Port of Antwerp at PSA, operator of the MPET, Noordzee Terminal, and Europa Terminal terminals, according to Gazet Van Antwerpen.
This means that approximately 20 ships chose another port because of the strikes in Belgium.
