Things went less well during the first quarter for the transshipment of ores and chemical products. These sectors both suffered a decline compared to the first quarter of 2010.
2010 annual figures
At the same time as the quarterly figures, the final results for 2010 were also posted. Throughput for last year amounted to 33 million tonnes. This means that the Zeeland ports are back at the pre-crisis level. It is apparent from the last annual report issued by the Joint Venture for Zeeland Seaports (as of 1 January, the port authority has been part of a government corporation) that turnover of € 50 million was achieved in 2010. The result amounted to -9.5 million euros. This negative result was caused by the fact that the preparatory costs incurred during the past few years for the development of the Westerschelde Container Terminal (WCT) have been partially written down. Since 2000, the preparatory costs relating to the realization of the WCT have been activated. In 2010, the exclusiveness of the previous contract partner PSA was ended. On the basis of general reporting rules, the decision was consequently made to write down € 19 million of the preparatory costs. Without this special expense, the results for Zeeland Seaports would have been € 9.5 million. Zeeland Seaports stresses that there is plenty of confidence in the realization of the WCT. Definitely now that the new programme of the Zeeland Provincial Executive so emphatically embraces the WCT to spearhead the development of the Zeeland port. Zeeland Seaports conducted market research to see if there was interest in the market. This revealed that many parties were interested in helping to develop the terminal. Zeeland Seaports is considering a concrete request to the Province to restart the procedure for the integration of the WCT into the spatial plans.