A piece of history
At the end of the 19th century the working conditions at the port of Antwerp were characterized primarily by a lack of consultation between employers and employees and an uncertain statute for dock workers. Recruitment of the dock workers took place on the streets of the famous "lazy Corner" or inns.
When in June 1899 the stevedores yielded to a demand of the dock workers for a 100% surcharge for night and Sunday work, shipping agents and Antwerp ship owners setup a committee that succeeded to halve the 100% surcharge
This success led to the founding of the Fédération Maritime d’Anvers on January 15, 1901. 77 ship’s agents and brokers signed the statutes of the new association. The Federation would initially focus its activities on the improvement of relations between employers and workers in the port but in general it took also care of the defence of the shipping interests.
The Fédération Maritime was led by a committee and a five-member Bureau. The first president was the in Antwerp established Swiss Daniel Steinmann-Haghe, The first vice president was Eduard Schwenn. Treasurer was John L. Dekkers.
Immediately after its establishment, the attention of the Federation focused primarily on the expansion of the port with a third lock and new docks. A motion was presented to the House of Representatives and led to the realization of the docks and Royers lock in 1907.
Since the fifties, the increasing shipping traffic, increasing ship sizes and technical developments resulted in the maritime access to the port being a permanent main theme for the Federation. Thus they explored the possibilities of the Scheldt and the Scheldt estuary for larger vessels and advocated for the use of modern nautical means such as VHF and radar. The Federation played a key role in the creation of the Ten Year Plan in 1956. This plan gave a green light for the construction of a fifth and a sixth Harbour dock and later on also the Zandvliet lock.
The increased activity prompt the Federation to optimize its internal organisation. The Bureau was assisted by an Executive Committee. In 1959 the Federation left her seat in the Korte Klarenstraat for a 17th century building in the Korte Gasthuisstraat. A documentation centre was developed and training courses were organised for port employees. Circulars informed the members about the activities of the Association and on various practical issues. As a result of the language legislation in 1966 the Federation was dutchified into the "Antwerpse Scheepvaartvereniging".
Cooperation with other organisations and combining forces have always been important objectives for the Shipping Federation. This created the basis of the establishment of the Antwerp Port Community (AGHA) and ASSIPORT, who took care of the public relations and promotion of the port.
Since 1901 the Antwerp Shipping Federation has experiencec a major transformation. With over 80 members, who handle 95% of the total incoming vessel's tonnage in Antwerp, it remains a representative organisation that fully plays its role in the major logistics platform that Antwerp is. The multifunctional nature of the Antwerp port with a wide variety of container lines and a multitude of non-containerised cargo lines and bulk and commodity traffic, makes the involvement of the Antwerp shipping companies and agencies indiispensable an will remain so in future. Therefore the Antwerp Shipping Federation will still have to play a substantial helping, advisory and informative role.