Can Fernand Huts turn 81 bells into a new landmark for Antwerp’s port?
Katoen Natie chief executive Fernand Huts has begun building an 81-bell concert carillon for the Singelberg site in Kallo, where the first bell was cast in the Netherlands on 18 August and completion is planned for 2028.
The project converts part of a working logistics estate into privately financed cultural infrastructure, creating commissions for specialist manufacturing and construction while potentially attracting visitors, musicians and researchers. Its value to nearby businesses and households will depend on access and programming; no direct public cost has been identified in the reviewed sources.
chief executive has started work on an 81-bell concert carillon weighing about 60 tonnes for his group’s Singelberg site in , on the left bank of the . Royal Eijsbouts cast the first bell in Asten, the , on 18 August, marking the first physical step towards an instrument due to enter service in 2028. If all 81 bells are installed as planned, the Singelberg Carillon would exceed the 77-bell instruments currently recognised as the world’s largest by number of bells.
The project is being developed by , , waste-management company and publisher Hannibal Books. It will form part of a new 65-metre tower at , the port complex where Katoen Natie and Indaver have operational headquarters. Het Nieuwsblad reports that architecture practice POLO Platform designed the building and that the carillon will sit within a structure also serving as a fire-evacuation tower.
The proposed instrument is unusually ambitious even by carillon standards. Its 81 bells will span six and a half octaves, compared with four octaves and 49 bells in each of the two carillons in ’s . The Singelberg instrument is expected to include an approximately 11.6-tonne F bass bell, one of only a handful of its type worldwide. By comparison, Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, says its 77-bell carillon is tied for the present world lead by number of bells; its largest bell weighs more than six US tons.
That comparison needs a qualification. ‘Largest’ can mean the greatest number of bells, the highest total bronze weight, the widest musical range or the heaviest bass bell. The Singelberg project is designed to lead on the number of playable bells and to offer an exceptionally broad range, but the record will only become concrete once the complete instrument has been cast, installed and commissioned. For now, one bell exists and the remainder form an announced construction programme.
For , the carillon is not part of its core cargo-handling proposition. The -based logistics company, whose Belgian operating company Katoen Natie NV is registered under enterprise number BE0404.778.426, makes its money from activities including storage, port cargo handling and transport. The bells instead extend Huts’ long-running use of art, architecture and heritage to shape the identity of company sites. Singelberg already contains contemporary art, while manages the collection assembled around Huts’ patronage.
The business rationale is therefore closer to place-making, corporate identity and cultural infrastructure than to an investment with an easily measurable return. A publicly accessible tower, concerts, international masterclasses and research facilities could bring visitors and specialist activity to an industrial area that most people otherwise experience from a road, warehouse or ship. city carillonneur Koen Van Assche told Het Nieuwsblad that the remote location could also be an advantage: musicians would be able to rehearse at hours that would cause disturbance around an urban bell tower.
There are practical limits. Singelberg lies far from the dense city centre in , now part of the merged municipality of Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht. Koen Cosaert, director of the Royal Carillon School in , noted in Het Nieuwsblad that public transport is limited apart from the Waterbus. That makes the proposed visitor access meaningful, but it does not automatically turn the complex into a mass-tourism destination. Programming, opening hours and connections will determine whether it becomes a working cultural institution or primarily a prestigious landmark on a private corporate estate.
The project’s budget, financing structure and projected operating costs have not been published in the reviewed reporting. Nor has a public subsidy been identified. That distinction matters for households and businesses: on the available evidence, this is a privately led cultural investment rather than a new charge on residents or port users. Its direct economic effect is likely to be concentrated among Royal Eijsbouts, architects, engineers, construction contractors, musicians and cultural partners. Any wider gains for hospitality or tourism will depend on actual visitor numbers after opening.
The broader significance lies in the meeting of an old civic instrument with the modern logistics landscape. Carillons developed in the Low Countries as public music heard from municipal and church towers. In 2014, UNESCO added Belgian carillon culture to its register of good safeguarding practices. Singelberg reverses the customary geography: instead of bells sounding above a historic market square, they will stand among terminals and industrial buildings in one of Europe’s largest port clusters.
Supporters see that contrast as productive. Van Assche, who also chairs the World Carillon Federation, argues that the expanded range will allow European performers to play contemporary compositions written for larger American instruments. The complex is intended to host composers, researchers and students from Belgium and abroad, giving the project a function beyond spectacle. Huts also plans for the Angelus to sound at noon, linking the site to the rural bell tradition he remembers from childhood.
Sceptical residents and heritage observers may reasonably ask whether superlatives and monumental architecture are substituting for a demonstrated public need. Huts’ earlier cultural plans for ’s prompted strong opposition from Flemish government architects, and the disputed glass addition was withdrawn. The Singelberg location is materially different because it is an industrial corporate estate rather than a protected city-centre monument, but the same question about private wealth shaping prominent shared landscapes remains relevant.
The next tests are straightforward: whether all 81 bells are funded and cast, whether the tower proceeds on schedule, how the instrument will be governed and programmed, and how easily the public can reach it. Until commissioning in 2028, the world-record description should remain conditional. What is already clear is that Huts is using a logistics headquarters to make a cultural statement: the port is being presented not only as machinery for moving goods, but as a place capable of producing a distinctive public sound.
Impact
Regional — For the Waasland port area, the tower could add a publicly accessible cultural destination to an industrial landscape. The likely immediate beneficiaries are contractors, cultural workers and nearby visitor services, although limited public transport may constrain attendance.
Local — The project is anchored in Kallo, in the Waasland port area, where a 65-metre cultural tower would be added to a working logistics estate. Contractors, bell specialists, musicians, researchers and nearby visitor services are the clearest potential beneficiaries before and after the planned 2028 opening. Its wider local value will depend on public access, concert programming and transport arrangements. The reviewed material identifies no total budget or confirmed public subsidy, while the site’s limited public-transport accessibility may constrain attendance from Antwerp and surrounding municipalities.
International — The first bell was cast in the Netherlands on 18 August, giving the project a concrete cross-border manufacturing dimension. Its proposed 81-bell scale is also framed against 77-bell instruments holding the current numerical world lead, positioning the Kallo installation within an international carillon landscape rather than solely as a Belgian cultural project. Beyond specialist production, tourism and musical exchange, however, the reviewed sources identify no direct EU institutional, regulatory or cross-border policy consequence. The international significance is therefore primarily cultural, technical and reputational.
What it means for you
No immediate action, charge or legal change applies to residents, commuters or businesses: the tower is planned to open in 2028, and no total construction budget or confirmed public subsidy has been disclosed. Readers interested in visiting or attending performances should wait for Katoen Natie or the Singelberg site to publish opening dates, access rules, programming and transport arrangements. Musicians, researchers, contractors and visitor-service businesses can watch for future commissions or partnerships. Anyone assessing the project’s public value should look for later disclosures on accessibility, operating costs and any government support.
Opposing perspectives
- Carillonneurs and music educators
Antwerp city carillonneur Koen Van Assche and Mechelen’s carillon-school community see the 81-bell range as specialist infrastructure that could support compositions, teaching and research not possible on smaller historic instruments.
- Accessibility and public-value sceptics
Residents and cultural-policy observers may question whether a monumental instrument on a remote corporate estate can generate broad public value. The absence of a disclosed budget, firm visitor plan and detailed transport arrangements makes that value difficult to assess before opening.
- Katoen Natie and project partners
The promoters present Singelberg as a long-term bridge between Flemish heritage, contemporary music, research and the industrial port, with public access and international masterclasses intended to make the tower more than a corporate monument.
Who, where and what
Key people, places and terms in this story
Port city and regional reference point for the project.
Country where the first bell was cast on 18 August.
Belgian city used as a benchmark through its historic tower carillons.
Katoen Natie chief executive and art patron commissioning the planned carillon.
Corporate and cultural complex in Kallo where the carillon tower is planned.
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Katoen Natie chief executive and art patron commissioning the planned carillon.
Corporate and cultural complex in Kallo where the carillon tower is planned.
Port city and regional reference point for the project.
Country where the first bell was cast on 18 August.
Belgian city used as a benchmark through its historic tower carillons.
Waasland locality hosting the Singelberg site and planned tower.
Sub-region containing the port area around Kallo.
Mechelen landmark containing two 49-bell, four-octave carillons.
Antwerp tower involved in an earlier architectural project backed by Fernand Huts.
Antwerp logistics group developing the carillon at its Singelberg site.
Planned 81-bell concert instrument scheduled for completion in 2028.
Port complex containing the Kallo industrial area where the project is located.
Company associated with the Burcht Singelberg complex.
Cultural foundation associated with Burcht Singelberg and Fernand Huts’ patronage.
Belgian public-service news outlet that reported on the Boerentoren redesign in 2024.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceHet Nieuwsblad — 81 klokken in een nieuwe toren op de SingelbergPrimaryprimary· nieuwsblad.be· 18 August 2026Retrieved 24 August 2026· 45 days ago· Dated
- View sourceHet Nieuwsblad — Ver van de stad en toch voor het volkcorroborating· nieuwsblad.be· 22 August 2026Retrieved 24 August 2026· 41 days ago· Dated
- View sourceTransportmedia — Katoen Natie gunt zichzelf de grootste beiaard ter wereldcorroborating· transportmedia.be· 18 August 2026Retrieved 24 August 2026· 45 days ago· Dated
- View sourceKirk in the Hills — Music at the Kirkofficial· kirkinthehills.orgRetrieved 24 August 2026
Related topics
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Pulse Insight — This topic connects to 10 associations and 2 funding programmes through the Flanders ecosystem.
Live connections from the Belgium Impulse ecosystem — not recommendations.
This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.