Logistics facilitator

In the context of the Strategic Plan for the transport of goods in the Brussels Capital Region, the Port is working on the installation of a urban distribution infrastructure, which seeks to rationalise the transport of goods in the city, in particular by implementing several urban distribution centres or UDC.

In those centres, goods that are supplied by truck or boat can be gathered, repackaged, then distributed in the city centre by means of vans, but also electric bikes, or even drones in the near future

The objective is to pool and consolidate the flows of goods in order to reduce the distances covered by road and the number of vehicles in the city. The Region has, in this respect, an exceptional asset at its disposal: the waterway. Indeed, the waterway is the only way to Brussels that does not encounter traffic jams. In 2018, more than 5 million tons of goods were loaded or unloaded on the Port of Brussels estate.

In order to diversify and attract new traffics to the waterway, the Port of Brussels has developed urban transshipment centres or UTC along the canal, in the north and the south of the Region. Such platforms make it possible to transship palletized goods and consumer goods, but also “big bags” (used for the transport of construction waste) or small containers.