PSA Antwerp Quay 869 & Quay 913 – Cargo Opening 7 Day Rule

The ongoing and unchanged congestions and delays in most European ports are leading to persistent and extreme delays of ocean vessels at the PSA terminals in Antwerp. This situation has a direct impact on the performance and yard utilization capacity. With last week’s event in the Suez Canal, we know for sure that again vessels will be delayed and that the pressure on our terminals will further increase.

With this letter, we have to inform you that PSA Antwerp is forced to implement a “7 day cargo opening rule” for export containers for all Mid & Far East vessels. This means that PSA will not accept any export container more than 7 days prior vessels confirmed eta.

The cargo opening is thus the earliest day on which an export container can be delivered. In practice, this YOT (Yard Opening Time) starts 7 calendar days before the Eta of the deep sea vessel and will move along with changes in the ETA of the vessel. The cargo opening will not change anymore as from the moment the 7th day before Eta is reached.

The most up-to-date cargo opening can always be found on the terminal’s portal, which can be reached via

869 - https://www.psa-antwerp.be/nl/europa-terminal-q869-yard-opening-times
913 - https://www.psa-antwerp.be/nl/noordzee-terminal-q913-yard-opening-times

This rule is activated as of Wednesday March 31st 2021 until further notice.

We kindly ask for your understanding that the terminal has to take these preventive measures to avoid any negative operational deterioration for all concerned parties involved.

In case of questions and as from today, the terminal has opened a dedicated point of contact at [email protected] or by phone on +32 3 735 68 60 during office hours.

Hapag-Lloyd is and will stay in close contact with terminal management to evaluate the measures.