More than 4,000 new jobs for Antwerp port area

The port of Antwerp and the adjoining area of East Flanders known as the Waasland will require an additional 4,400 new workers over the next three years, according to a poll taken by the Antwerp chamber of commerce among 170 businesses in the area. The majority of the jobs are in technical fields, as well as IT staff and administrators.

According to soundings taken by the chamber of commerce, industries in the port will be advertising some 2,500 vacancies; most of these will be in process operations and maintenance. Port-related and logistics jobs will amount to nearly 1,900, including accountants, IT personnel and dispatchers.

“To young people who will soon be looking for work, I say … The port is alive and kicking and a source of well-paid jobs,” said Luc Luwel of the chamber of commerce. 

The new jobs offer some solace in the wake of news from Flemish labour minister Philippe Muyters that unemployment in September was 9.5% higher than the same period last year. The region now counts 236,675 unemployed, a rate of nearly 8%. For women, the unemployment rate is 8.15% and for men 7.8%. One in four of those seeking work is under the age of 25.

Meanwhile, the Antwerp port authority has launched a new international branding campaign under the slogan “Everything is possible at the port of Antwerp”. The campaign, which will run to the end of 2014, will feature a number of the port’s major clients, who will testify to “the can-do mentality” to be found in the industry.

“Everyone who has a story to tell can become an ambassador of the port, to carry our message into the world,” said Luc Arnouts, the port’s chief commercial officer.

www.portofantwerp.com/everythingispossible