Oil products fell the most, by 8.1%. An extra 4.8% of crude oil passed through the port. Dry bulk fell by 0.7%. “In 2015 we expect the same growth in throughput as last year: 1%. This year too, the main growth is expected in the container sector. In the coming years, we will nurture the large, existing sectors in the port, whilst also focusing strongly on innovation and broadening the range of activities in the port. We need both for a healthy future,” said Allard Castelein, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO.
During this annual presentation,
Castelein also paid plenty of attention to the challenges facing the port. “We are seeing major changes not only in the energy sector and the chemical industry, but also in logistics,” according to Castelein. “So that the port can continue to be a strong pillar of our prosperity in the long term, we are working with business on innovation and on broadening the range of activities in the port. We can already see evidence of this in the increase in offshore activities, but the energy and chemical sector also need to become more sustainable. We are focusing on increasing efficiency in industry and on developing bio-based industry. For the container sector the development of the hinterland connections is particularly important. This year the new container terminals on Maasvlakte 2 will be busy starting up; from 2016 onwards, however,
there will actually be extra capacity for further growth”.
Containers and breakbulk show sharp growth
There was a 5.8% increase in container throughput, to 12.3 million TEU (numbers) and a 5.2% increase to 127.6 million tonnes (weight). This sharp rise can be explained by a combination of factors. The economy in both the Eurozone and the United Kingdom is improving. As a result, there has been an increase particularly in the deepsea volumes on the shipping routes to Asia and North America. Moreover, the initial effects of the increase in scale in container shipping became visible: Rotterdam is an attractive port for the ever larger ships.
Breakbulk is a combination of roll on/roll off (ro/ro) traffic and other mixed cargo. Throughput in this category increased by 12.1%, to 26 million tonnes. Ro/ro traffic was up by 8.1%, thanks largely to the improvement in the British economy. In the category other mixed cargo, steel, non-ferrous metals and project cargo did particularly well. Other mixed cargo, for years on the decline as more and more cargo disappeared into containers, did exceptionally well, with 28.1% growth.