ITG Meerhout (BCTN) and PSA Antwerp (PSAA) have signed a cooperation agreement to launch a new, fast, and reliable barge service connecting PSAA’s North Sea Terminal (Quay 913) and ITG Meerhout.
The service will operate under the name ‘Meerhout – PSAA Express’.
The service started on 6 January 2025, offering tri-weekly calls at Quay 913 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
The express service aims to optimise inland barge operations, improving turnaround times , operational reliability, and supply chain transparency for shippers and logistics providers.
ITG Meerhout, the largest inland container terminal in the Benelux region, will provide a dedicated point-to-point connection to PSA Antwerp 24/7, further strengthening service predictability and efficiency.
Edward Tah, Managing Director of PSA Belgium, said: “The ‘Meerhout – PSAA Express’ service combines the strengths of PSA Antwerp and ITG Meerhout to deliver faster, more reliable and sustainable inland connections. By aligning operations and introducing fixed time slots, we’re creating a seamless, predictable solution that helps our customers plan better and keep their supply chains moving efficiently.”
David Huybrechts, General Manager Zuid at ITG Meerhout (BCTN), added: “This fixed point-to-point connection between the PSAA terminal and the ITG terminal in Meerhout ensures a reliable, guaranteed inland transit time that our customers can use to efficiently organise their import and/or export flows.
“This also allows us to offer an alternative to the increasing congestion and traffic problems on the roads to and from Antwerp. As a result, ITG now has fixed calls at all major deep-sea terminals.”
In July 2025, PSAA joined the Zero Emission Port Alliance (ZEPA), a global coalition aiming to accelerate the adoption of battery-electric port equipment and achieve net-zero emissions in ports.