August 22, 2012 [Port of Rotterdam] - In the first half of 2012, 222 million tonnes of cargo was handled in the port of Rotterdam, 3.2% up on the first half of 2011. Incoming trade rose by 1% to 155 million tonnes and outgoing trade by 8% to 66 million tonnes.
Bulk throughput increased by 5% to 147 million tonnes and container throughput was 2% up at 63 million tonnes. Less general cargo was handled: down 8% to 12 million tonnes. Less agribulk (-11%), iron ore and scrap (-15%), other dry bulk (-9%) and other general cargo (-25%) were imported and exported. The other types of cargo were up: coal (+2%), crude oil (+10%), mineral oil products (+14%), other liquid bulk (+6%), roll on/roll off (+1%) and containers (+2%). In numbers, container throughput fell by close on 2% to 5.9 million TEU (20-foot units).
Hans Smits, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO: ‘The port of Rotterdam got off to a good start, with slightly higher than expected growth in throughput. This is in line with the recent report from Statistics Netherlands, in which the economic growth is attributed primarily to exports outside the EU. By far the majority of this travels via the port of Rotterdam. The national picture also corresponds with that of the port when it comes to products: an increase in the refining and handling of crude oil and oil products, as well as container throughput is benefiting from the good export performance of Dutch and German industry. I expect throughput over the year as a whole to show modest growth of around one per cent.’
Liquid bulk
The total volume of liquid bulk rose by 10.6% to 107.5 million tonnes. Incoming trade in crude oil was 9.6% up to 50.6 million tonnes, which is at the top end of the historic range. In the past six months, there were no maintenance shutdowns, as compared to two major ones in 2011. In addition to this, production capacity elsewhere in Europe fell due to the (temporary) closure of refineries. This caused a partial shift of demand for refining capacity to Rotterdam.
There was a sharp increase in the handling of mineral oil products, by 13.8% to 39.9 million tonnes. Fuel oil throughput was stimulated by imports from Russia and exports to Singapore due to positive arbitration and the availability of VLCCs.
The increase in throughput was facilitated by an increase in the tank capacity at ETT (third phase), STR (more than doubled) and BTT (completely new).
Other liquid bulk (basic chemical products, vegetable oils and fats, fruit juices) was 5.6% up to 16.8 million tonnes. This is largely due to the rising throughput figures for palm oil, as a result of such factors as the opening of the plant of Neste Oil. There was also an increase in imports of MTBE and biodiesel, mainly from Asia. However, there was another fall in ethanol imports.
