According to Flemish media reports, the pilots’ unions have agreed to a temporary suspension of their “work-to-rule” campaign in order to “break the current deadlock” and give the Flemish Government ten days to demonstrate “through mediation and concrete progress” that it intends to honour a previous agreement reached in June.
The suspension is due to remain in place until 07:30 on 24 October, though the pilots warned that industrial action could resume if no progress is made.
Gradual recovery begins at Antwerp
According to the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, normal scheduling for ship arrivals and departures resumed on Wednesday morning (15 October) following the pilots’ decision to suspend their actions. The BVL organisation confirmed that work has resumed, while the availability of the different pilot corps will only become fully clear later in the day.
“A gradual improvement will therefore become noticeable, although clearing the backlog will take several days,” the port authority said in its 8:00 a.m. update.
As of this morning, around 60 ships were waiting to depart and roughly 100 to enter the port. The authority also announced that the sinking of the fifth tunnel element — a scheduled operation that would have temporarily closed the Kallo Lock and Upper Scheldt — has been postponed to avoid further disruption.
Hundreds of ships were stranded
The ten-day strike began on 6 October, when pilots from three professional associations, AvK, BvL and OVL, and the trade unions ACOD, ACV and VSOA, jointly walked out in protest against federal pension reforms.
By mid-October, more than 150 vessels were reported waiting off the Belgian coast or in port approaches, while dozens of others were trapped inside the ports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent, unable to depart.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges spokesperson Lennart Verstappen told public broadcaster VRT that the disruption had “major operational consequences”, as cargoes could not be loaded or unloaded and knock-on delays spread through the logistics chain.
Read more: Europe faces congestion and weak demand as global ocean freight rates hit lowest since 2023
Pension reforms at the heart of the dispute
At the centre of the conflict is the Federal Government’s plan to overhaul pension rules for maritime pilots. Unions argue that the reform would cause younger pilots to lose up to 45 % of their future pension, while also excluding special bonuses from pension calculations.
The pilots’ association BvL says an agreement was reached on 2 June with Flemish ministers Jan Jambon and Annick De Ridder to mitigate the impact of the reform, but that the government later failed to finalise the necessary preparations — a move the union describes as a “direct violation” of that deal.
“There’s already a shortage of workers in our sector,” BvL chair Francis Baetens said earlier this week, adding that many Flemish candidates now prefer to work for the Dutch pilot service, which offers higher pay, better pensions and retirement at 60.
Calls for mediation
Antwerp’s port councillor Johan Klaps (N-VA) warned that repeated strikes were damaging the international reputation of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and urged both sides to return to talks swiftly.
“Some sectors are already in difficulty, and these actions are hitting them particularly hard,” Klaps told local media.
The pilots have since accepted mediation by a social conciliator and said they are ready to return to negotiations, provided the government commits to implementing the earlier deal.
Although maritime traffic is expected to resume gradually over the coming days, backlogs remain substantial, with more than a hundred ships still waiting in the North Sea or at anchor near the ports. Clearing the congestion and resuming normal schedules may take several days or even weeks.
The outcome of the renewed negotiations, due by the end of November, will determine whether Belgium’s busiest ports can avoid further paralysis later this month.
Wider labour unrest across Belgium
The maritime pilots’ action coincided with a nationwide general strike on 14 October, organised by Belgium’s main trade unions in protest against wage and pension reforms. The walkout brought public transport, airports, and government services to a near standstill, and further slowed cargo handling at Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Ghent, Brussels and Liège.
The Zandvliet traffic control centre in Antwerp operated with reduced staffing during the national strike, effectively halting maritime traffic for several hours. Airlines cancelled or rerouted dozens of freight and passenger flights as ground-handling and security staff joined the action.
European freight corridors under pressure
The Belgian dispute comes amid a wider wave of industrial action paralysing key European freight corridors. In neighbouring Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ largest port, a court ruling on 13 October forced striking lashing workers to resume weekday operations after nearly a week of stoppages. The FNV Havens union is demanding a 6.5 % pay rise after lowering its initial claim of 7 %. Container handling has partially restarted, though the Port of Rotterdam Authority warned it may take until the end of October to clear the backlog.
Belgium has also been hit by a 24-hour national air-freight strike that ended on the morning of 15 October, disrupting cargo handling and customs services at Brussels and Liège airports. Many express and e-commerce shipments were rerouted through Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Paris and Amsterdam.
According to Belgium’s Chamber of Commerce, the combined effects of the strikes in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Zeebrugge have caused secondary disruptions across supply chains in Germany, France and Central Europe.
Overview of current industrial actions affecting Europe’s main logistics hubs
| Start date | Location | Sector / parties involved | Reason for action | Current status |
| 6 October 2025 | Antwerp / Zeebrugge / Ghent (Belgium) | Maritime pilots (AvK, BvL, OVL; ACOD, ACV, VSOA) | Protest against federal pension reform | Temporarily suspended until 24 Oct 07:30 |
| 8 October 2025 | Rotterdam (Netherlands) | Lashing workers (ILS, Matrans / FNV Havens) | Pay dispute (+6.5 %) and inflation adjustment | Suspended on weekdays by court order; may resume 17 Oct |
| 14–15 October 2025 | Belgium (nationwide) | Trade unions / air-freight sector | Pay and working-conditions protest | Concluded 15 Oct; delays ongoing |
