A 30% growth in oil product throughput has led the Port of Rotterdam to a 6.8% throughput growth in the first half of 2015, compared to H1 last year.
Crude oil’s 8.3% rise, a 9.6% rise in ro-ro cargo and a 3.7% increase in containers in teu terms also helped offset a 4.9% fall in dry bulk results.
A strong harvest in Europe meant lower agribulk imports, causing an 18.4% drop in throughput. Iron ore and scrap was down 3.3% and a mild winter and uptake of renewable energy in Germany left coal down 2.2%.
Liquid bulk was up by 15.4% overall, spurred by a low oil price, and high refining margins helped crude volumes rise 8.3%. Rotterdam is well positioned to take advantage of price and supply imbalances in the market between Asia and North West Europe/Russia; oversupply in North West Europe during the period led fuel oil throughput up 50% to 11m tonnes as exports increased.
Although still not a significant cargo, LNG throughput was up 106%.
A 3.7% increase in container traffic marks the gradual recovery of the European economy, with the UK’s particular strength being balanced by decline in the Baltic area.
“The strong growth in the first quarter was responsible for causing congestion in the handling of inland vessels, in particular. A number of initiatives ensured this situation improved in the second quarter, but it remains an important area of attention,” the company stated in its earnings release
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