About Brabo
The Port of Antwerp is a world in itself. Very few outsiders know what really goes on in Europe’s second largest port. Everyone is familiar with the classic picture of ships coming and going to load and unload goods. Making this possible requires numerous players, each forming an essential link in the nautical chain in the port area: from locksmen, bridge operators, tug crews and shipping coordinators to pilots and boatmen.
The safe piloting, mooring and unmooring of ships is Brabo’s core business. This website introduces you to the company, but especially to the employees who give the best of themselves in the port every day. Because they are proud of what they do. Because they want to do it well. Because the way they do their job really makes a difference.
"Harbouring Safe & Sound":
the added value of Brabo in 3 words
Our new baseline reflects the essence of Brabo’s activities within the port.
- Harbouring … means, among other things, ‘sheltering someone or something’, providing protection or accommodation. Harbouring is an old term from the shipping industry that refers to the mooring of a vessel: giving it a ‘safe haven’.
- Safe & Sound … means that ships are literally in safe hands.
That remains Brabo’s core task to this very day. Our harbour pilots and boatmen welcome ships from all over the world. They act as both guides and hosts: ambassadors with a heart for the Port of Antwerp.
‘Harbouring Safe & Sound’ therefore sums up precisely what Brabo does: piloting ships into and out of the Port of Antwerp and assisting them during mooring and unmooring. With expert precision, safely and with respect for the ship, the crew and the environment.
Local player with European impact
The importance of the Port of Antwerp for the economy of Flanders, Belgium and Europe is well known. In this sense, Brabo’s activities have reverberations which extend far beyond national borders.
All port actors play their roles according to the economic activity surrounding them. After Houston, Antwerp is home to the largest petrochemicals cluster in the world. The activities of these companies have an impact on the industry within a radius of up to 1,000 km around Antwerp. Their economic value in terms of employment and GDP is particularly high.
Brabo employees are therefore well aware of their responsibility. They do their work with care and passion to ensure that logistic activities in the port run smoothly. Although outsiders tend to focus on the importance of loading and unloading, it is crucial that manoeuvring, mooring and unmooring are done smoothly and safely. Keeping a container ship operational costs tens of thousands of euros every 24 hours. So for every hour that a ship stands idle, the shipowner makes a loss. Every Brabo Group employee is fully aware of this. It would only be a slight exaggeration to say that Brabo keeps the Port of Antwerp and the European economy running.
In summary
- Brabo has been a pioneer and frontrunner in participatory entrepreneurship since 1931.
- Co-ownership and co-management ensure that everyone is on the same page. As a result, Brabo Group is ready to face the challenges of the future.
- The company offers its employees career development opportunities: from boatman to pilot to managerial posts.
- Mooring and unmooring is teamwork. The pilots and boatmen of Brabo Pilotage & Mooring are perfectly matched for this purpose.
- Brabo’s reliability and expertise make a vital contribution to the economic success of the nautical chain in the Port of Antwerp.
- Brabo is a company with a maritime soul. Pilots and boatmen are enthusiastic ambassadors with a heart for the Port of Antwerp.
- The Brabo Academy runs the in-house training programmes, with the unique tool that is the manoeuvring simulator.
- Brabo shares its expertise in manoeuvring and mooring facilities with international partners. The manoeuvring simulator is used to test the docking of new types of ships and the construction of jetties.
- Brabo Maritime Services also offers further specialised services, bringing added value to the port.
- Brabo is one of the world’s largest private providers of boatmen services.
Brabo in figures
- Number of pilotage jobs: ± 26,000
- Number of boatman jobs: ± 36,000
- Ship sizes: up to 400 m
- Oil spill interventions: ± 40 / year
- Number of boatmen: 194
- Number of pilots: 65
- Employees: ± 300
The new Brabo logo expresses what Brabo stands for, now and in the future, and translates it into contemporary imagery. At a single glance, the logo offers an overview of the activities that Brabo undertakes in the port every single day.
The arrows in two colours are a reference to the incoming and outgoing ships. The overlap creates an enclosed inner space which symbolises the port. The shape is also a reference to the mooring lines used to fasten ships to the bollards.
The people working for Brabo combine a wide variety of competences and fields of expertise. Each field has its own identity and its own derived logo with brand colours.
