Container throughput, gas, oil products, and other bulk goods already declined 9.3 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, the port authority said, as economies across the globe shut down in an effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

"A 10 to 20% drop in throughput volume on an annual basis would seem to be very likely. This will depend on how long the measures remain in place and on how quickly production and world trade recover," the port's Chief Executive Allard Castelein stated.

Castelein said the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on trade will become clearer in the months to come, as lockdowns only came into effect at the end of the first quarter in Europe and the USA.

Maritime Business World