The investment wave in Antwerp’s chemical industry continues to surge. Basf Antwerp announced an investment of half a billion euros on Monday. This brings the investment volume in Antwerp’s chemical industry to more than five billion euros in the coming years.

The group will increase the production capacity of ethylene oxide and derived products by 400,000 tonnes per year in the coming two years. According to Basf, this translates into additional employment for more than a hundred new employees in the 2020-2021 period. This mainly includes engineers, process operators, technicians and logistics staff.

Two installations

The project includes the construction of a second large ethylene oxide plant. The Germans have a similar complex in Ludwigshafen. The two factories currently have a joint production capacity of 850,000 tonnes.

The ethylene oxide derivatives, as the company describes the substances produced, are processed, among other things, in brake oil. According to Basf, the increasing use of cruise control and other autonomous functions of modern cars places ever higher demands on this product. The substances produced also find their way to, among other things, cosmetics, cleaning products and all kinds of paint, ink and pesticides.

Largest in Belgium

Antwerp is the second largest production location of the German chemical group and the site in the north of the Antwerp port area is the largest industrial industrial site in Belgium. It covers six hundred hectares and employs more than three thousand people.