The total cargo volume throughput in the Port of Rotterdam in the first half of this year was 220.7 million tonnes, which is a 5.5% decrease compared to the same period in 2022.
Due to the higher use of solar and wind, less coal (-14.5%) was transported to traditional destinations, such as Germany and the Netherlands. In iron ore and scrap, the 8.9% increase was mainly driven by scrap exports to Turkey. A similar increase of 8.5% was recorded in agribulk, driven mostly by the oil seeds imports from South America.
In liquid bulk, crude oil, now only imported from the US, Norway, West Africa and the Middle East, decreased by 1.4%, mineral oils dropped by 1.9%, and LNG, 62% of which is now imported from the US, increased by 9.8%.
Containerised cargo dropped 9.3% in tonnage and 8.1% in the number of TEUs, mainly caused by zero traffic from Russia and lower imports from Asia. The RoRo segment dropped 3.2%, affected by the high inflation, weak UK economy and stockpiling.
The Port of Rotterdam has also announced a planned expansion of its container terminals in the Prinses Amaliahaven. This could bring an additional 4 million TEUs through this biggest European port.
