Due to the recovery of Europe’s economy and the lower prices of oil, the Port of Rotterdam’s throughput has increased by 6.8% during 2015’s first half. Oil products account for the biggest increase, which is in the amount of 30% and serves as almost a fifth of the total volume of the cargoes.
Liquid bulk registered a 15.4% increase, crude oil volumes surged by 8.3% and as a result of more refining capacity in Russia and Northern Europe, fuel oil exports demonstrated a 50% increase, reaching 11 million tons. LNG marked a 106% increase as a result of lower prices on the Asian market and the port saw LNG re-export to Europe’s industrial clusters, where there has been a transition from fuel or gas oil to the more eco-friendly alternative that is LNG.
Container throughput displayed a 3.7% increase regarding TEUs meaning 2.3% in container tonnage. The port of Rotterdam is the biggest European port and its transshipment traffic rose by 6.6% through feeder vessels. Given the advent of ships surpassing the 18,000-TEU mark, and provided that there are 50 new orders for vessels of this size, Rotterdam saw an increase in the number of box ships over 10,000 TEUs, going from 35 to 90 in the first half-year. Two brand new terminals became operational this year, owned respectively by RWG Group and APM Terminals.
At the same time, bulk cargoes dropped down by 4.9% and agriculture bulk levels declined by 18.4%. Iron ore went down by 3.3% and coal displayed a 2.2% decrease.