“With the exception of a few sectors, the port is doing pretty well. Particularly striking is the 4% increase in containers. After March, even as high as an average 6%. This makes it even clearer that we badly need the new terminals on Maasvlakte 2 if we are to achieve further growth. The increase of no less than 31% in the handling of other mixed cargo is also noteworthy. However mineral oil products in particular, at -11%, are considerably down on last year”, according to Allard Castelein, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO.
 
Liquid bulk

Crude oil (+2%) is slightly up on the – low – 2013 level. Capacity utilization at the European refineries is low because demand for some oil products is low and competition on the world market is tough. Mineral oil products (-11%) and other liquid bulk (-9%), mainly feedstocks for the chemical industry, are clearly lagging behind. Causes include the difficult situation of the chemical industry in Europe, lower (re-)exports of heavy fuel oil to the Far East, the limited economic growth in Europe and increasing competition with the coming into operation of new terminals in other ports. LNG throughput is still limited in scale, but has more than doubled (+137%). This mainly concerns gas produced in Scandinavia that finds its way onto the world market via Rotterdam.