Freight volumes between Rotterdam and the UK have continued to grow in recent years as the economy recovers from the crash in 2008 and predictions for sustained future growth are positive.
“We are pleased with the development of the second berth in Rotterdam and of our routes to Harwich and Killingholme. We believe in the future of Europoort as a strong freight hub on the North Sea and are committed to the development of the terminal as part of a long term investment plan. The second berth allows us to fully facilitate business development long-term and to meet future customer demand,” said Annika Hult, Route Manager, Stena Line North Sea.
“This is a big investment and demonstrates the confidence in the RoRo-market’s long-term development and the growing freight volumes to and from Rotterdam. The Port of Rotterdam is committed to enable a further growth; amongst others via developing additional rail capacity to strengthen the RoRo rail infrastructure,” said Joyce Bliek, Director Containers at Port of Rotterdam.
The work to develop the new berth, with a length of 212m and 6.30m draft, will start shortly and is expected to be completed in Q1 2017. The current berth will then be renewed and both berths are planned to be operational by January 1, 2018 offering Stena Line much greater flexibility to service the growing freight market.