The Belgian established Blue Economy sectors employ about 33 000 people and generate around €4.4 billion in GVA. The Blue Economy has had a mediocre impact on the Belgian economy and employment rates in 2021.
In Belgium, the contribution to the national overall GVA of the Blue Economy sectors is stable at 1%, whilst the share of blue jobs to the national workforce is 0.7%, slightly increasing from 0.6% recorded in 2020.
The Belgian Blue Economy is dominated by Port activities, which contributes to the 38% of the Belgian Blue Economy jobs and to 44% of the GVA in 2021. The relative importance of the Port activities sector has decreased by almost 2% in terms of employment but has increased by almost 3% in terms of GVA on a year-to-year basis.
In terms of employment, Living resources and Coastal tourism follow with 21% of blue jobs, however these two sectors amount to 19% of the GVA altogether. The second sector in terms of GVA is Maritime transport, which contributes to 27% of the Belgian blue economy.
In the EU, Belgium is the 6th and 7th-largest contributor in terms of GVA and employment respectively in Port activities, and 7th and 11th-largest in Maritime transport. Some of the busiest container ports in the EU are in Belgium: Port of Antwerpen (2nd), Port of Valencia (7th), Port of Zeebrugge (19th), Port of Cartagena (25th), Port of Genta (23rd). Belgium ports do not rank high for passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports. Indeed, the top-ranked port in 2021 is Zeebrugge, with 79 000 passengers (rank 322nd).
The importance of the Blue Economy is recognised by the Belgian government, which has the ambition to become a maritime nation, focusing mainly on established sectors such as fishing and aquaculture, abd sand extraction, but also on more innovative sectors such as ocean energy and carbon capture and storage.
The Blue Cluster is an independent and neutral partner supporting Flemish companies developing and promoting offshore activities.
For more national level data, please visit the Dashboards section within the EU Blue Economy Observatory.
